Spearheaded by ReThinkPennStationNYC using the design of RWC Atelier & Co., the current proposal aims to bring attention to the feasibility of restoring New York's most intensely used urban train station to its original architectural and cultural glory. Currently considered as one of four proposals for Penn Station, awareness is growing about this important project.

Issue No. 1 of The Classicist (1994), illustrated by Richard Cameron depicting the original Penn Station and in ruins.

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New York’s Pennsylvania Station, designed by Charles McKim during the years 1900-1910, was the country’s grandest and most beautiful railway station. Its 1963-1967 demolition is widely considered to be the worst mistake in our country’s architectural history prompting the creation of New York City’s landmark preservation commission and landmark laws across the country.

Beginning in 1993 with a drawing and editorial for The Classicist No.1 for the Institute of Classical Architecture (of which he was a co-founder) Richard Cameron has been creating designs and advocating for the rebuilding of McKim’s great station to serve New Yorkers, the country and the world with a modern, functional, and beautiful gateway to the city.

With hundreds of original drawings still intact at the New York Historical Society, rebuilding Penn Station to its original grandeur would be both economically and technically feasible, as we would be recovering an already proven design to its public and individual purpose.

The goals of rebuilding Penn Station are broken down into four steps:

Reconstitute the Grand Public Spaces of the original McKim design including the main waiting room, train concourse, and shopping arcade.
Create a modern, high-tech through-running transit hub connecting two subway lines and two major commuter rail systems
Redesign portions of the original building to reflect current use and development, and to meet contemporary codes and laws as well as implement the latest in green technology e.g. solar technology.
Redevelop the area in and around Penn Station to create a world class urban destination while preserving existing residential and small business neighborhoods

Visit our partner ReThinkPennStationNYC for more information on how to support this proposal and the immense importance of transportation - particularly through Penn Station - to New York City and its continued success as an urban hub.