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The 15-year construction of the monumental Pennsylvania Station in New York City required the demolition of 500 buildings, but when the station opened in 1910, it was instantly hailed as a masterpiece. Renowned architects McKim, Mead & White patterned the enormous structure after famous European landmarks like the Roman Baths of Caracalla and London's Crystal Palace. As one admirer wrote "...[Pennsylvania Station] was one of McKim's most monumental and moving designs, a giant of a building that still retained a human scale. In catching or meeting a train at Pennsylvania Station one became
part of a pageant¿actions and movements gained significance while processing through such grand spaces." The destruction of most of Penn Station in 1963 to make room for the new Madison Square Garden was largely viewed as a travesty. The outcry that resulted sparked the national preservation movement. But ambitious plans are underway to return Penn Station to its former grandeur and allow a passenger to once again enter the city "like a god."
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