The rest is history: The original Pennsylvania Station was eventually demolished, and rail traffic was sent underground, beneath the arena we now know as MSG. But Madison Square Garden - it's the beginning of a new city on a hill. It can be treated with terror or joy - a tantrum that says, 'I want it the way it was,' or a dance that says, 'Look - something new.'. Let's say that change is neither good nor bad. At a three-martini lunch with MSG's disgruntled developer, Draper makes the case for Madison Square Garden (the scene can be viewed here at about the 1:00 mark).ĭraper's case is an elegant, moderate manifesto for the future: In the early 60s, rail traffic through its grand concourse was declining precipitously, and the city was hemorrhaging dollars to maintain the structure.Īfter Paul botches the meeting with the developers, Sterling Cooper's creative director, Don Draper - the show's central character - is called in to salvage the account. Yes, the station was gorgeous, but it was also a money pit. Progress always comes with a price, and the cost-benefit analysis of annihilating a beautiful relic in favor of new development with inferior architectural appeal is one of the tougher calculations a city has to grapple with. The opposition fought a losing battle, but the station's demise was the impetus for the formation of New York City's Landmarks Preservationist Commission, which is still active - and effective - to this day. It's hard to argue that the demolition of Pennsylvania Station for an arena that could've been placed elsewhere didn't make New York City a slightly lesser place, as articulated by then-New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable in May 1963. A preservationist is just a modernist with memories. ![]() Even the most dedicated futurists among us have a hard time reconciling our steadfast belief that sentimentalizing tradition is a lousy way to affect change in a world that needs it, against our visceral aesthetic attachments. Historic preservation is a very tricky balancing act. They took apart the Coliseum to build their outhouses!Īt which point MSG's developer responds about his arena complex: ![]() Do you know where the greatest Roman ruins are? They're in Greece. I don't think it's crazy to be attached to a Beaux Arts masterpiece through which Teddy Roosevelt came and went. (You can check out the scene in which the embattled copywriter Paul Kinsley, who is assigned to the campaign, turns on the developers in a preliminary meeting, and defends the preservation of Pennsylvania Station here at the 3:19 mark.) a sports arena and entertainment center?! Preservationists and a number of New Yorkers were outraged that a totemic structure would be torn down to make way for. McKim, Mead, and White's work can still be seen throughout the city - Columbia's campus, the Manhattan Municipal Building, among others - and up and down the eastern seaboard. It was designed by the storied firm McKim, Mead, and White, one of the leading practitioners of the Beaux-Arts movement in New York. The original Pennsylvania Station structure was one of New York City's architectural masterpieces. ![]() ![]() One of the launching points for last Sunday's stellar episode of the AMC drama "Mad Men" - titled "Love Among the Ruins" - was the proposed demolition of the original Pennsylvania Station on the west side of Manhattan to make way for Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden, Mad Men, and Preservation You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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