Editing Grand Central Terminal (section)

== Related structures ==
=== Park Avenue Viaduct ===
[[File:The New York Grand Central Terminal.jpg|thumb|alt=Elevated view of the terminal from the south, showing Park Avenue wrapping around it|The viaduct as it approaches and wraps around Grand Central, 1944]]

The [[Park Avenue Viaduct]] is an elevated road that carries Park Avenue around the terminal building and the MetLife Building and through the Helmsley Building—three buildings that lie across the line of the avenue. The viaduct rises from street level on 40th Street south of Grand Central, splits into eastern (northbound) and western (southbound) legs above the terminal building's main entrance,<ref name="nycl2" /> and continues north around the station building, directly above portions of its main level. The legs of the viaduct pass around the MetLife Building, into the Helmsley Building, and return to street level at 46th Street.<ref>{{cite web|date=March 31, 1987|title=Helmsley Building|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1297.pdf|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|page=19|access-date=June 8, 2020|archive-date=October 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003115031/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1297.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

The viaduct was built to facilitate traffic along 42nd Street<ref name="nyt19280902" /> and along Park Avenue, which at the time was New York City's only discontinuous major north–south avenue.<ref name="RN p. 103" /> When the western leg of the viaduct was completed in 1919,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/04/17/archives/link-up-park-av-to-ease-congestion-civic-bodies-celebrate-opening.html|title=Link Up Park Av. to Ease Congestion|date=April 17, 1919|newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|access-date=December 7, 2018|archive-date=August 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818094806/https://www.nytimes.com/1919/04/17/archives/link-up-park-av-to-ease-congestion-civic-bodies-celebrate-opening.html|url-status=live}}</ref> it served both directions of traffic, and also served as a second level for picking up and dropping off passengers. After an eastern leg for northbound traffic was added in 1928, the western leg was used for southbound traffic only.<ref name="nyt19280902" /> A sidewalk, accessible from the Grand Hyatt hotel, runs along the section of the viaduct that is parallel to 42nd Street.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nMnB-2HgbwC|title=Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide|last=Durante|first=Dianne L.|date=2007|publisher=NYU Press|access-date=February 1, 2019|isbn=9780814719862|archive-date=February 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217154850/https://books.google.com/books?id=1nMnB-2HgbwC|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Post office and baggage buildings ===
[[File:Grand Central Post Office 1988.jpg|thumb|alt=Exterior of the Beaux-Arts post office building resembling Grand Central|[[450 Lexington Avenue|Grand Central Post Office Annex]] in 1988]]
Grand Central Terminal has a post office at [[450 Lexington Avenue]]. Built from 1906 to 1909,<ref name="usps" /><ref name="Schlichting pp. 62-63" /> it was topped with a high-rise tower in 1992.<ref>{{cite news|last=Garbarine|first=Rachelle|title=Not Bargain, But Building Is Renting|newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/02/business/real-estate-not-bargain-but-building-is-renting.html|date=December 2, 1992|access-date=September 18, 2020|archive-date=May 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514082940/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/02/business/real-estate-not-bargain-but-building-is-renting.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The original architecture matches that of the terminal, which was designed by the same architects.<ref name="RN p. 111" /> In 1915, postal operations expanded into a second building, also built by Warren & Wetmore, directly north of the original structure.<ref name="RN p. 111" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1915/08/15/archives/electric-marvels-in-new-post-office-belts-lifts-and-chutes-do-all.html|title=Electric Marvels in New Post Office – Belts, Lifts, and Chutes Do All but the Thinking in Building That Opens Today – Covers N.Y. Central Yard – Built to Handle 800,000 Pounds of Mail a Day – Room for 33 Cars of Sacks at Once|date=August 15, 1915|website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|access-date=December 28, 2018|archive-date=December 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228223354/https://www.nytimes.com/1915/08/15/archives/electric-marvels-in-new-post-office-belts-lifts-and-chutes-do-all.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This second building, erected as the Railroad Mail Service Building and today known as 237 Park Avenue, has been extensively renovated.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Horsley|first=Carter B.|date=August 19, 1981|title=Real Estate; An Atrium For Public In Midtown|language=en-US|work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/19/business/real-estate-an-atrium-for-public-in-midtown.html|access-date=September 19, 2020|archive-date=April 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403205408/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/19/business/real-estate-an-atrium-for-public-in-midtown.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Grand Central's post office buildings were designed to handle massive volumes of mail, though they were not as large as the [[James A. Farley Building]], the post office that was built with the original [[Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963)|Penn Station]].<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|New York Transit Museum|2013|p=181}}</ref>

The terminal complex also originally included a six-story building for baggage handling just north of the main station building. Departing passengers unloaded their luggage from taxis or personal vehicles on the Park Avenue Viaduct, and elevators brought it to the baggage passageways (now part of [[#Grand Central North|Grand Central North]]), where trucks brought the luggage to the platforms. The process was reversed for arriving passengers.<ref name="Schlichting pp. 62-63" /><ref name="RN p. 128" /> Biltmore Hotel guests arriving at Grand Central could get baggage delivered to their rooms.<ref name="Schlichting pp. 62-63" /> The baggage building was later converted to an office building, and was demolished in 1961<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Leighton|2000|p=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Grand Old Central Sprouts a Skyscraper|last=Lee|first=Henry|date=October 16, 1960|work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251|pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26483927/ 52], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26483952/ 53]|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> to make way for the [[MetLife Building]].<ref name="Schlichting pp. 62-63" />

=== Subway station ===
{{Main|Grand Central–42nd Street station}}
[[File:Shuttle Passage.jpg|thumb|left|alt=People standing around Grand Central's Shuttle Passage|View of the Shuttle Passage facing the subway station entrance; the ramp at right leads to street level]]

The terminal's subway station, Grand Central–42nd Street, serves three lines: the [[IRT Lexington Avenue Line]] (serving the {{NYCS trains|Lexington}}), the [[IRT Flushing Line]] (serving the {{NYCS trains|Flushing}}), and the IRT [[42nd Street Shuttle]] to [[Times Square]].<ref name="submap" /> Originally built by the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]] (IRT),<ref name="nyt19041028" /><ref name="RN p. 100" /> the lines are operated by the MTA as part of the [[New York City Subway]].<ref name="GC42 S map" /><ref name="GC42 456 map" />

The Main Concourse is connected to the subway platforms' mezzanine via the Shuttle Passage.<ref name="directory" /><ref name="GC42 S map" /> The platforms can also be reached from the 42nd Street Passage via stairs, escalators, and an elevator to the fare control area for the Lexington Avenue and Flushing Lines.<ref name="GC42 456 map" />

The 42nd Street Shuttle platforms, located just below ground level, opened in 1904 as an express stop on the [[Early history of the IRT subway|original IRT subway]].<ref name="nyt19041028" /> The Lexington Avenue Line's platforms, which were opened in 1918 when the original IRT subway platforms were converted to shuttle use,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pudl.princeton.edu/sheetreader.php?obj=7e1011bd-d756-4cde-9fa8-fdda2ce8d6e3|title=Shuttle Service In Operation|date=September 27, 1918|website=pudl.princeton.edu|publisher=Interborough Rapid Transit Company|access-date=September 19, 2016|archive-date=September 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924061609/http://pudl.princeton.edu/sheetreader.php?obj=7e1011bd-d756-4cde-9fa8-fdda2ce8d6e3|url-status=live}}</ref> run underneath the southeastern corner of the station building at a 45-degree angle, to the east of and at a lower level than the shuttle platforms.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/07/17/archives/lexington-av-line-to-be-opened-today-subway-service-to-east-side-of.html|title=Lexington Av. Line To Be Opened Today; Subway Service to East Side of Harlem and the Bronx Expected to Relieve Congestion. Begins With Local Trains Running of Express Trains to Await Opening of Seventh AvenueLine of H System.|date=July 17, 1918|newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|access-date=April 14, 2018|archive-date=October 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020000103/https://www.nytimes.com/1918/07/17/archives/lexington-av-line-to-be-opened-today-subway-service-to-east-side-of.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Flushing Line platform opened in 1915;<ref name="nyt19150622" /> it is deeper than the Lexington Avenue Line's platforms because it is part of the [[Steinway Tunnel]], a former streetcar tunnel that descends under the [[East River]] to the east of Grand Central.<ref name="RN p. 100" /><ref name="nyt19150622" /> There was also a fourth line connected to Grand Central Terminal: a spur of the [[IRT Third Avenue Line|IRT Third Avenue elevated]],<ref name="RN p. 100" /> which stopped at [[Grand Central station (IRT 42nd Street Branch)|Grand Central]] starting in 1878;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1878/08/26/archives/rapid-transit-on-the-bowery-opening-of-the-east-side-elevated.html|title=Rapid Transit on the Bowery – Opening of the East Side Elevated Railroad To-Day – Time-Table and Fares|date=August 26, 1878|website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|access-date=December 28, 2018|archive-date=December 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229031230/https://www.nytimes.com/1878/08/26/archives/rapid-transit-on-the-bowery-opening-of-the-east-side-elevated.html|url-status=live}}</ref> it was made obsolete by the subway's opening, and closed in 1923.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1923/12/07/archives/42d-st-elevated-stops-service-on-spur-to-grand-central-discontinued.html|title=42d St. Elevated Stops – Service on Spur to Grand Central Discontinued Last Midnight|date=December 7, 1923|website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|access-date=December 28, 2018|archive-date=March 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302000821/https://www.nytimes.com/1923/12/07/archives/42d-st-elevated-stops-service-on-spur-to-grand-central-discontinued.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the terminal's construction, there were proposals to allow commuter trains to pass through Grand Central and continue into the subway tracks. However, these plans were deemed impractical because commuter trains would have been too large to fit within the subway tunnels.<ref name="RN p. 100" />