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Gems of Grand Central Terminal
Faces - The Magazine of People, Places and Cultures for Kids
|April 2020
Designed to make every arrival and departure feel like a special occasion, Grand Central Terminal (GCT) has been dazzling visitors ever since it opened on February 2, 1913. Today, this beautiful Beaux-Arts building is one of the most-visited spots in New York City. Let’s take a look at a few of the gems that make this historic landmark sparkle.
THE TRANSPORTATION SCULPTURE
This spectacular statuary—all 1,500 tons of it—really rocks. Three figures from Roman mythology perch above the terminal’s main entrance on 42nd Street. Hercules (on the left) represents strength; Mercury (in the middle) is associated with speed, commerce, and transportation; and Minerva (on the right) represents wisdom.
Designed by French sculptor Jules-Félix Coutan, Transportation is 66 feet wide and stands 48 feet tall at its highest point. Coutan made a small-scale model of the sculptural group, and craftsmen in Long Island City carved it from Indiana limestone.
THE TIFFANY CLOCK
A jewel-like clock made by world-renowned TiffanyStudios sits in the middle of the Transportation statuary, right below Mercury’s toes. With a diameter of 14 feet, this colorful timepiece is said to be the largest Tiffany glass clock in the world.
Railways can’t run like clockwork without the help of accurate timepieces. GCT’s clocks are synchronized with the atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Bethesda, Maryland.
THE CLOCK ON THE INFORMATION BOOTH
This story is from the April 2020 edition of Faces - The Magazine of People, Places and Cultures for Kids.
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