Norman McGrath photographs of Penn Station
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
This collection documents the demolition of Penn Station from 1963-1966, including photographs of the station's interior and exterior photographs taken from a bird's-eye view across the street at the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Biographical / Historical
Norman McGrath is an English-American photographer who specializes in architecture and interiors. He was born in 1931 in London and grew up in Dublin, where he studied engineering at Trinity College. A few years after graduating, McGrath moved to New York with the intent of becoming a structural engineer; after being fired from his engineering job of four years, he decided to take up photography as a part-time vocation alongside other engineering work.
During his transition to photography in the early 1960s, McGrath worked as an engineer at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which sat across 7th Avenue from Penn Station. During a workshop with Harper's Bazaar art director Alexey Brodovitch, he chose to start a project documenting the station's gradual demolition over the course of the 1960s. His bird's-eye view from the hotel allowed him expansive exterior shots.
His photographs of Penn Station established him as an architectural photographer, and he has continued to work in architectural photography. His photos have appeared in architectural publications, commercial projects, and magazines. In 1985, the American Institute of Architects selected him for its Institute Honor.
Arrangement
The photographs are in the order in which they were received from the photographer.
Scope and Contents
This collection includes 50 photographs McGrath took while documenting the gradual demolition of New York's Penn Station between 1963 and 1966. The original Pennsylvania Station, completed in 1910, was a Beaux-Arts masterpiece designed by McKim, Mead and White. By the early 1960s, the station's deterioriation, high operating cost, and lower train ridership led to its replacement with a smaller underground station and Madison Square Garden at street level. Photographs in the collection include interior and exterior shots exhibiting the scale of the McKim, Mead and White building in all stages of deconstruction. Specific areas of interest include the Waiting Hall, the Concourse, and the Arcade.
McGrath made these prints in the 2020s from scans of his original negatives and slides, and many of the photographs include information about the original camera and film and details of how he reprinted the image. Some photographs were part of an exhibit McGrath did in 2024 showcasing the demolition. Titles and dates are taken from McGrath's notes on the verso of each photograph; he also signed each photograph on the verso.
Subjects
Organizations
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New York Historical, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org.
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Norman McGrath Photographs of Penn Station, PR 483, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New York Historical.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Norman McGrath, 2024
Other Finding Aids
The New York Historical holds several other collections related to Penn Station, including McKim Mead and White Architectural Records (PR 42), Alexander Hatos Photograph Collection (PR 48), George P. Hall and Son Photograph Collection (PR 24), the Robert L. Bracklow Photograph Collection (PR 8), the Bob Stonehill Collection of New York City Postcards (PR 472), the Geographic Images Collection (PR 20), the Postcard Collection (PR 54), the Poster Collection (PR 55) the Photographer File (PR 50), the Irving Browning Photograph Collection (PR 9), and the William J. Roege Photograph Collection (PR 181).
About this Guide
Processing Information
The photographs were transferred to archival folders in groups of 10 photographs.
Repository
View Inventory
Penn Station: Concourse, ca. 1963, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "The original Ektachrome film on which the scan was made in May, 2024 was so degraded that I mistook it for a color negative. Restored it produced an o.k. color scan which I reworked in B+W to produce the incredibly sharp print you see here. Perhaps the best photograph I ever took of the Main Concourse." N.M.G.
Penn Station: The Concourse, Few signs of impending doom in this view looking north, ca. 1963, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "The original of this view was 120 Ektachrome that was so degraded (orange color) that I mistook it for negative film and decided not to print it. However with care and restoration this print was possible. Converted to black and white was spectacular." N.M.G.
Penn Station: 7th Avenue Facade, ca. 1964-1965, inclusive
Penn Station: Early view from Waiting Hall roof of the Concourse roof looking west with the Hudson River beyond (and N.J.), ca. 1963, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "This marvelous roof structure was largely unseen outside except from a high vantage point in the right place. This view from the roof of the Waiting Hall west to the current location of Hudson Yards + Moynihan." N.M.G.
Penn Station: Main Entrance on 7th Avenue, ca. 1963, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "This elevation of the east facade of Penn Station represents the widest angle view possible of the main entrance at that time."
Penn Station Exhibit 2024: The Concourse looking south, December, 1964, inclusive
Penn Station Waiting Hall Ceiling (end section), ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: Waiting Hall looking north, ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: Waiting Hall from street level looking north, "modern" ticket counter at left, ca. 1963, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "Original film was so contrasty it was unprintable at the time. Only much later was it possible with the aid of Photoshop and HDR (High Dynamic Range) to produce a usable scan. That was around 2017." N.M.G.
Penn Station: The Arcade, between 7th Avenue and the Waiting Hall on the axis of 32nd Street, ca. 1963, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "If you look closely you will see a 1964 Dodge car on display. An ironic touch." N.M.G.
Penn Station, ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: Street level view from 31st Street and 8th Avenue, ca. 1963, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "The south end of the Waiting Hall is the only essential element of the station visible behind the concealing facade. No exterior signage whatever." N.M.G.
Penn Station: the Waiting Hall looking south, ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: West entrace on Eighth Avenue, ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: the Waiting Hall is gone but the Concourse remains, ca. 1964, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "The 10' diameter clock, at bottom right, was above the original entry from the Waiting Hall to the Concourse." N.M.G.
Penn Station: Concourse roof (interior), ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: Waiting Hall, partial demolition, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station Exhibit 2024: Aaron Rose on a column capital, the Waiting Hall, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station: Mid-demolition, overall view from 16th floor of Pennsylvania Hotel, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station: Mid-demolition, detail from Pennsylvania Hotel, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station: North east corner of the Concourse with structure for new street-level floor for Madison Square Garden, [ca. 1964?], inclusive
Penn Station: Arcade from the Waiting Hall with new floor structure in the foreground, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station: Concourse with protective tarps during construction of lowered ceiling, ca. 1965, inclusive
Penn Station: Ceiling support and roof structure, Waiting Hall, ca. 1965, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "Rubble on the newly created floor for M.S.G. below. Roof and ceiling are gone." N.M.G.
Penn Station: Eagle from Main Entrance, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station: South ramp, ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: 33rd Street Arcade, ca. 1964-1965, inclusive
Penn Staton looking east thru the skeleton of the Concourse, ca. 1964-1965, inclusive
Penn Station: Light fixture in access ramp agaist dust laden air, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station Exhibit 2024: Removing eagle from above main entrance on 7th Avenue, [ca. 1964-1965?], inclusive
Penn Station Exhibit 2024: Widening access for trucks from 7th Avenue, ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station Exhibit 2024: Seventh Avenue signage, [ca. 1965?], inclusive
Penn Station, [ca. 1963?], inclusive
Penn Station: Eagle dethroned, 31st Street entrance, ca. 1963, inclusive
Penn Station: Main entrance on 7th Avenue, ca. 1964-1965, inclusive
Penn Station: Main entrance on 7th Avenue, ca. 1965, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "Nowhere on the exterior were there any signs indicating either the location of the main entrance or that it was in fact Pennsylvania Station. Strange." N.M.G.
Penn Station view looking north of the Waiting Hall mid-demolition, ca. 1964, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "This photograph shows the newly inserted street level floor on which Madison Square Garden now sits. In background 34th Street." N.M.G.
Penn Station: A combination of construction and demolition proceed while life in the station goes on, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station demolition, ca. 1964, inclusive
Dismantling pedestrian bridge over south access ramp, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station looking northeast, ca. 1965, inclusive
General
Full title: Penn Station looking northeast. The Arcade is gone. Note tracks below and rear of east facade with Pennsylvania Hotel in background.
Penn Station: Looking east, ca. 1964-1965, inclusive
Penn Station: Dedication panel, listing all involved parties, 1963-1964, inclusive
Penn Station: Ceiling of Corinthian Room Restaurant (later Savarin) as seen from Waiting Hall floor, ca. 1964, inclusive
Penn Station: Only the 7th Avenue main entrance facade remains, ca. 1966, inclusive
Penn Station: Statuary above main entrance on 7th Avenue. The clock is gone but 'Day' + 'Night' remain, chained, ca. 1966, inclusive
Penn Station: New floor for M.S.G./lowered ceiling for Concourse below, ca. 1965, inclusive
Penn Station: Concourse roof looking east towards upper Waiting Hall, ca. 1964, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "I included myself in this photo for scale. I used delayed action on my camera. See shadow at left."
Penn Station: the Waiting Hall mid-demolition (looking northeast), ca. 1965, inclusive
General
Note: The roof and the ceiling are gone with only the steel support remaining. Below the new street-level floor is covered with the remains of the coffered ceiling with columns for the new Madison Square Garden protruding through." N.M.G.
Penn Station: Skeleton of the roof and ceiling structure of the Waiting Hall, ca. 1964, inclusive
General
Note on verso: "This view is looking north with 34th Street in the background, 33rd Street is concealed by the horizontal beam in the center. Very little development occurred between the streets while the station was standing, as can be seen."