Penn Station From Above, 1915.

In 1910, the original Pennsylvania Station was inaugurated, which was the fourth largest building and the largest train station in the world at the time. The renowned architect Charles McKim from the prestigious firm of McKim, Mead & White was responsible for designing the station. According to Jill Jonnes’ book “Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels,” McKim believed that the emerging modern American empire was similar to the Roman Empire and, therefore, used that ancient imperial model to create a modern structure of equivalent grandeur.