Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: new york central

Admittedly the detail isn't baroque, but C.U.T. does represent Art Deco and Neo-Classical sort of combined into one in a very beautiful way, at least in my opinion. Of course, if you've seen the frescoes inside the building, then maybe you'd beg to differ with my opinion about it not matching baroque buildings.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that my favourite series of architectural shots I ever took in the United States were taken of a railroad station. Not only am I a railfan, but in the U.S., few other buildings except for post offices and government buildings were built to quite the same spectacular standards, with the exception, perhaps, of some university buildings and churches. This amazing fog-enshrouded tower is Cleveland Union Terminal, or Tower City as it's now known, originally built in 1930 for the New York Central Railroad. Wow... When I first saw it, I was astonished to know that it still existed, as I had only seen it in old photos, and as everyone knows, the U.S. has an unpleasant habit of destroying its most beautiful buildings in favor of strip malls and parking lots. Not this one, though.

C.U.T. is so huge, at 216 meters (708 feet) in height (not to mention its unusually large footprint for even such a tall building), that when it was built it was the second tallest building in the world, and the tallest building outside of New York City until 1967. This would undoubtably also make it the tallest railroad station in the world, as I'm absolutely positive that no other station in the world could even come close. It's so tall that from the street it's impossible to see the top, especially on a foggy day like this one, and the sensation of looking straight up absolutely blows away the view of York Minster that I have elsewhere on this site. If you ever want to see the most amazingly, eye-wateringly spectacular railroad station in the United States, this one would definitely have a lot to recommend it over New York's Grand Central Terminal or Washington's Union Station. I've seen both of them, and although I would rank Washington Union very highly too, it's far more common in its design, even if it's still huge. GCT is surprisingly mundane in comparison with either Washington or C.U.T., and holds its ranking as "world's biggest railroad station" only because of its extensive system of underground tunnels. Aboveground, it doesn't even come remotely close to C.U.T. in any respect whatsoever, at least in my opinion. :-)

It's not my favorite station in the world, but surely no other station has quite the cred of Grand Central Terminal. It's probably the most famous station in the world, more so than even London King's Cross, London Paddington, Paris Gare de Austerlitz, or any other station that I can think of. Built gradually during the early 1900s to replace an earlier station, it was America's first new all-electric heavy railroad station, necessitated by New York's new (at that time) clean air legislation banning steam locomotives from Manhattan. It's still, unless I'm mistaken, the world's largest station, too, with 42 tracks, although if truth be told much of this capacity is redundant.

Arguably the most famous meeting place in the New York City (and one of the most famous in the world) is the kiosk in the center of the main concourse in Grand Central Terminal. Some people were gathered there on this day, but only a moderate number.