The Destruction of Penn Station - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1891024051 ISBN 13: 9781891024054

Publisher: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2001

Synopsis

Opened to the public in 1910, McKim, Mead & White's Pennsylvania Station featured a dramatic vaulted glass ceiling over its expansive main concourse and was inspired in part by the Roman Baths of Caracalla, giving visitor and commuter alike an experience of grandeur in entering and leaving the city. The decision in 1962 to replace the old station and its subsequent demolition ultimately proved to be key moments in the birth of the historical preservation movement--a movement that came too late to save Penn Station itself. But during this period one might on any given day of the week, have seen Peter Moore in the station, carefully photographing the building and the process of its destruction, even as above his head--and above the heads of the 200, 000 commuters who transversed the station each day--cranes were beginning to take down what had been one of the grandest public buildings of the twentieth century. Moore visited the Station again and again between 1962 and 1966 to document its architectural form as well as the drama of its ''unbuilding.'' The resulting photographs combine compositionally elegant images of architectural form and details with haunting pictures of glass and masonry stripped away from steel girders as the building is progressively demolished.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Moore (1932-1993) began his career as assistant to the great industrial photographer O. Winston Link in the 1950s and eventually became Senior Technical Editor of Modern Photography magazine from 1978-1989. But he was best known for his photojournalism covering startling avant-garde performances that took place beginning in the 1960s, such as Fluxus, happenings, and Judson Dance Theater. During more than 30 years of documenting these events Moore amassed an unparalleled archive of several hundred thousand images, selections of which have been published and exhibited internationally. His photographs of the 4-year demolition of New York's Pennsylvania Station, on the other hand, were unknown to the outside world during his lifetime. This book represents thier first publication.

Review:

...grand cathedral-like Pennsylvania Railroad Station was torn down...Moore documented that sad, historically controversial process on large-format black-and-white film. -- Popular Photography, May 2001 --M.R.

Curiously, his most bracing images record the early stages of destruction, when commuters were moving through unfazed... -- The New Yorker, April 9, 2001

The sequence and editing of photos...give[s] you a strong sense of something almost alive that is slowly dying. -- Paris Photo, Summer 2001 --R.S.

...guaranteed to shock those who’ve only known the station’s undistinguished replacement. Peter Moore’s light-filled paeans to preservation... -- New York Magazine, April 9, 2001

...the loss of the old station was a factor is the creation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965. -- The New York Times, May 20, 2001

...ultimately, by allowing contemporary viewers to experience freshly that slow-motion tragedy, they illustrate why New Yorker’s sense of loss endures... -- The New York Times Book Review, March 25, 2001 --David W. Dunlap

About this edition

• Publisher: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1891024051
• ISBN 13: 9781891024054
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128
• Editor: Barbara Moore