The Jewel: The Main Terminal Building

In front of you is the jewel of this 61-acre site: the Main Terminal Building. The art deco 17-story Tower reaching high into the sky housed train control rooms and office spaces for 1,500 of New York Central's nearly 8,000 Buffalo employees, as well as employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Tower is 80 feet across at its base and rises 271 feet above track level. The four exterior clocks are on the Tower’s 10th floor.

Let’s visit 1934. You park your car in the nearby lot and head for the Entry Lobby. After you pass under one of the metal canopies, you walk through the double doors to the lobby. Inside, as you shake off the rain, you warm up by the large radiators mounted in the walls. This lobby is the only way you can get up to your office in the Tower. Four elevators and stairwells provide access -- one to the top of the Tower; one to the 15th floor; and two that only go up as high as the 6th floor.

The Main Terminal Building was designed to prevent problematic cross-traffic by arriving and departing passengers. Those coming to the Central Terminal entered through the Entrance Lobby, which gave access to the Tower for workers, and the Passenger Concourse for passengers and retail shop owners. Those who arrived by train would walk straight across Concourse to the east side of the building and through the Exit Lobby, where they could hail a cab or be picked up by car. An adjacent stairway led down to street level into an area that had been designated as the streetcar waiting room.

Today, the Main Terminal Building is owned by the nonprofit Central Terminal Restoration Corp., which also owns the Mail & Baggage Building and the 12.5 acres surrounding these buildings.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Gurnett.