We’re excited to announce that PBS has given us an exclusive clip from the upcoming documentary The Rise and Fall of Penn Station airing this upcoming Tuesday airing next Tuesday. New York City’s Pennsylvania Station—now mostly underground and a mere shadow of its former glory—was once an engineering marvel designed by famed architect Charles McKim. It was crafted as the “entrance to one of the great metropolitan cities of the world,” stated McKim. Inspired by the architectural grandeur of ancient Rome, McKim designed the structure that would open to great acclaim in 1910 only to be torn down prematurely 53 years later. With an expansive network of sixteen miles of tunnels—many of which were below the city’s treacherous waterways—it was an impressive triumph of civil engineering.
The glory of this iconic transportation hub is explored in The Rise and Fall of Penn Station airing this upcoming Tuesday. Featuring a wide array of historians and engineers, it will provide an in depth presentation on the history of the once monumental station.
