Penn Station’s Colonnaded Facade in 1924

Constructing the original Penn Station was an enormous endeavor, involving the construction of 16 miles of tunnels to accommodate 28 tracks. The terminal itself spanned seven-and-a-half acres, making it the largest train station in the world and the fourth largest building overall, as noted in the book “Conquering Gotham.” According to the same source, once the project was finally finished, it would permanently transform both the physical and psychological landscape of the United States’ most important city, New York, as well as its surrounding areas of New Jersey and Long Island.