Empty of pedestrians, cars, taxis, and traffic, especially during daylight hours, that is. The image comes from a 1920s postcard of the terminal, not long after it opened in 1913.
Check out this grainy photo of the original Grand Central Depot, in the 1870s, with real live cows grazing in front of it—a glimpse of the city’s rural recent past.
Tags: Beaux-Arts architecture New York City, Grand Central Depot, Grand Central Station, Grand Central Terminal, New York in the 1920s, New York street, postcard Grand Central Terminal, vintage postcard New York City
Ephemeral New York 
March 16, 2012 at 9:20 am |
Are we looking south to north? Any of the other buildings still standing? Such a great web site.
March 16, 2012 at 12:30 pm |
Grand Central was probably never this idyllic. These postcards were often altered from the original photographs. The street here has obviously been painted over. In order to reduce clutter, cars, pedestrians, beach-lollers, etc. were often removed. Comparing several copies of the same card will frequently show these differences.
–Road to Parnassus
March 16, 2012 at 2:43 pm |
Tom B: We are looking North from the south side of 42nd Street, where Vanderbilt ends. The building behind Grand Central–partially obliterated by the postmark–is still there: the Helmsley Building (originally the “New York Central Building”) I don’t think the red brick eyesores on the right hand side looked like anything that existed back then; if so, it is extreme artistic license. Can anyone find evidence that something like that did exist?
August 20, 2012 at 11:58 am |
The building on the right is the old Commodore Hotel. Some years back it was renovated, given a new glass skin, and is now the Grand Hyatt. It was never that bright a red, in my memory. It was more of a reddish brown brick color.
March 17, 2012 at 1:23 am |
Rocco, no artistic license at all — check out mcny.org collection:
Wurts Bros. “Grand Central Station” 9/4/1930
(I think that’s the side of the old Commodore Hotel)
March 19, 2012 at 2:01 pm |
The Hyatt that is now there was built using the steel framing of the old Commodore.
March 19, 2012 at 2:23 pm |
Well, I’ll be darned, the exact photo! Somehow those buildings on the right hand side look better in black and white.
Much appreciated, nycedges!
September 7, 2015 at 7:17 am |
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