Comments on: Remembering Penn Station

By: Frank Kolo

Frank Kolo — Thu, 02 May 2013 17:35:44 +0000

All those who miss the old Penn Station NY

MUST!!!! Watch this CGI short.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQQVtOYgXeo

By: Robert Ebbs

Robert Ebbs — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:57:14 +0000

Hey Richard:
How ’bout approaching it from the Hollywood film angle? Research films that include interiors of Penn Station. A montage might be nice. Just a quick thought, haven’t followed up on it at all.
-Robert Ebbs

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:57:27 +0000

I was thinking of going myself and doing exactly that. Penn station before and after. Because there are a lot of existing staircases left and glass floors

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 07:21:43 +0000

If some people cannot understand my above comment forgive me. My I-phone has an option where you can speak into the phone instead of typing and unfortunately the sentences do not always come out right. I wish somebody could’ve filmed that whole station. Unfortunately probably due to coworker peer pressure Possibly from looking odd or weird No film was probably ever done.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 07:14:39 +0000

I wish I could see you then and now pictures of Penn Station. For example a photograph taken in some spot in the station before 1963 and the same exact spot today. I see so many old photographs of Penn and when I go to the station these days I try to pin where exactly that old photograph was taken. I wonder if anyone evere filmed old Penn Station . It would be amazing if somebody actually entered Penn Station from seventh Avenue I walked around the whole station. Then exited eighth Avenue. I wonder if there’s any films out there. Maybe even home movies. I wonder if even any of the construction workers who took part in the demolition took any photographs or home movies. Unfortunately the way society thinks it would be labeled wired for a construction worker or a person employed at Penn Station to bring in a movie camera. So most likely as a result There probably is no film of the original Penn station. I am just hoping against all odds there might be something out there.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:23:57 +0000

Is any penn station fragments and salvage still out to see or has it been put away.

By: Margaret Stenz

Margaret Stenz — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:23:02 +0000

Thanks for this information, David. Since its arrival in 1966, the sculpture has been listed in our records as being made of pink granite, and all the major sources on Penn Station state that the station was carved from travertine marble and Milford pink granite. But Monumental News—an early 20th century trade journal for the monument industry–certainly would be a good source for this information.

Not being a geologist myself, I consulted with the Museum’s objects conservator, Lisa Bruno, who told me that granite and marble can look very similar at times. However, when the sculpture was cleaned in 2004, the conservation team determined that the stone was, in fact, Tennessee marble.

This is what Lisa told me: “Part of the treatment was to remove gypsum crusts (calcium sulphate), a by-product of pollution and acid rain. Calcium carbonate (limestone or marble) + pollution = calcium sulphate. Granite is a silica based rock–nothing calcareous about it–so you will never have gypsum crust on granite.”

I have not yet found specifics on the sculptor Adolf Weinman regarding this commission, but it looks as though he may have purchased his own Tennessee marble for the eagles and the clock figures that he carved, while the rest of the building was made in either Milford granite or travertine marble.

We will update the information on the website asap, but it will take a little longer to update the object label. Thanks so much for your comments.

By: David Morrison

David Morrison — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:31:52 +0000

The article states that the statuary was “carved in pink granite.” That is incorrect. The quarry stone is Marble, quite possibly Knoxville Marble. An early 1900s article in Monumental News tells about the Penn Station statuary being carved from Knoxville Marble. Also, I have a letter dated September 2, 1994 from the Smithsonian Institution, it was confirmed to me that the quarry stone for the Penn Station eagle located outside of the National Zoo is indeed marble. The Director of the National Zoological Park, Michael H. Robinson, stated in the letter to me “we will eventually amend the plaque to state that it is marble…” Maybe you should have someone with the Brooklyn Museum who is familiar with mineralogy inspect the museum’s figure of DAY and state an opinion. David Morrison

By: Sallie Stutz

Sallie Stutz — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:46:58 +0000

Thks for the history lesson on a stunning architectural part of NYC…and now I know where that Column that greets me every morning came from….