Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal, opened in 1913 at the junction of Park Avenue and 42nd Street in Midtown East Manhattan, is both a functioning commuter rail hub serving Metro-North Railroad and one of the great architectural monuments of the Beaux-Arts movement. The Main Concourse, measuring 275 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 125 feet high, achieves grandeur through the scale of its arched windows, the celestial mural on its vaulted ceiling, and the perpetual choreography of commuters crossing its Tennessee marble floor beneath the famous four-faced brass clock above the information booth. The ceiling mural depicts the winter constellations in gold leaf on an aquamarine background — the figures are the reverse of how they appear in the sky, as the artist painted the heavens from the perspective of looking down. The Municipal Art Society offers guided tours that illuminate these details and the terminal's history. The Whispering Gallery, accessed through the lower level near the Oyster Bar & Restaurant, is a domed corridor where a person speaking softly at one corner can be clearly heard by a person diagonally across — an acoustic phenomenon easy to test. Grand Central Market on the lower level assembles specialty food vendors selling artisan bread, cheese, and prepared foods. The terminal's dining options span the concourse level and a lower dining concourse, with the storied Oyster Bar operating since 1913 as one of New York's best seafood restaurants. The building is free to enter and serves as a terminus for trains throughout the Hudson Valley, Connecticut, and Westchester County.