Editing Grand Central Terminal (section)

=== 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" />