Engineered Charm

25 Aug Engineered Charm

I know everyone thinks this of their friends, but…

Mine are really some kind of amazing.

Two Fridays ago, Yasmein took me on a walking tour of Grand Central Station and the surrounding areas because she knows I’m a history geek who would eat something like that up.

Except, so did she.

I caught her pulling out her phone to take notes when the tour guide told us that Grand Central had three specific entrances. One in particular, was designed to make you feel small, so you’d speed up and walk faster.

I saw her do it again when we were in the “great room” of the train station, when our guide explained this particular area was  designed to lift you up in a spiritual nature. And again, as he pointed out the clock in the center of the room was where 43rd Street and Park Ave would have intersected if we were at street level.

When we entered the Chrysler Building, the tour guide yelled at me (I think that’s how he shows his affection, he did after all tell us that he knew we’d be trouble), asking me if I was doing “the texting” while he was speaking.

“No, no,” I assured him. “I’m taking notes. I just want to be sure I don’t forget anything.” Satisfied, he went back to explaining how the Chrysler Building was erected in the late 1920s, during the real life Great Gatsby, in a time of excess, jubilance and just at the elevator bay was New York’s first version of the digital clock.

[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”@chan_inthecity” suffix=””]“Europe has its cathedrals, but America has Grand Central station,” our guide yelled [/inlinetweet]over the honking cabs. “And we are standing on top of the world’s largest train yard.”

When Grand Central station opened on February 2, 1913, The New York Times wrote that it was “the great stair less terminal. A  horseman could make his way through and not have to dismount.”

Not unlike what you would see if you were to enter Rome or London (even Braavos, east of Westeros for my Game of Thrones fans), you are greeted by a statue, Transportation, designed by Frenchman Jules Fèlix Coutan (who also designed the Pont Alexandre III bridge in Paris).

William J. Wilgus, Chief engineer of New York Grand Central said that this was done purposefully.

The New York Times reported, “Contemplating a plaster model of the sculpture in his office, [architect Whitney] Warren later wrote that while the ancients entered cities through triumphal gates that punctuated mighty fortifications, in New York and other cities the gateway is more likely to be “a tunnel which discharges the human flow in the very center of the town.”

“Such is the Grand Central Terminal,” he continued, “and the motive of its facade is an attempt to offer a tribute to the glory of commerce as exemplified by that institution.”

When I peeked through the double doors leading to the train platforms on the lower level, I could imagine Fred Astaire tap dancing up to meet me in the kissing room—where long distance trains arrived.

I love that this place makes history come alive for me.

Architecture critic and writer, Ada Louise Huxtable, summed up New York City’s engineered charm, writing, “When it is good, this is a city of fantastic strength, sophistication and beauty. It is like no other city in time or place.”

Wearing: H&M Crop Top// J.Crew Maxi Skirt// Nine West Sandals// Chanel Bag//J.Crew Necklace

Thanks, Yaszy, for reminding me of that. And making sure I crossed Grand Central and the New York Public Library—with a library card to boot—off of my bucket list.

… While documenting the whole thing, of course.