Instant Cities: New York

New York › Places and landmarks

Grand Central Terminal

The great railway station on 42nd Street, with its hall under a ceiling of stars and its clock of opal.

See it in 3D Watch the tour

Photo: Steven Lek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Grand Central Terminal opened in 1913, with the trains running underground on two levels so that Park Avenue could be built over the tracks. It has 44 platforms, more than any other station in the world, and trains still leave it every few minutes for the north of the city and Connecticut.

Its Main Concourse is one of the largest halls in New York. The green ceiling is painted with the stars of the winter sky, and over the information booth stands a four-faced clock. In the 1960s the owners wanted to put a tower on top of it; New Yorkers, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis among them, fought to save it, and in 1978 the Supreme Court ruled that the city could protect it. Visit it in 3D ›

More in New York

Empire State BuildingThe Art Deco tower on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1970. Times SquareThe crossing of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, under walls of lit screens, at the heart of the Theater District. Chrysler BuildingThe Art Deco tower on 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, with a crown of steel arches and a needle on top. New York Public LibraryThe marble library on Fifth Avenue, guarded by the two stone lions Patience and Fortitude. Rockefeller CenterThe Art Deco towers between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, with the golden Prometheus, the skating rink and the Christmas tree. Bryant ParkThe green lawn behind the Public Library, with its plane trees, its green chairs and in winter its ice rink. St. Patrick’s CathedralThe Gothic cathedral of white marble on Fifth Avenue, facing Rockefeller Center. Macy’s Herald SquareOne of the largest department stores in the world, on 34th Street, where the Thanksgiving Day Parade ends. Statue of LibertyThe copper statue in the harbour, a gift from France, that greeted the ships of the immigrants. Central ParkThe great park in the middle of Manhattan, four kilometres long, just north of the game’s map. Yellow cabsThe yellow taxis of New York, which you hail from the kerb with a raised hand. New York pizzaThe big, thin pizza sold by the slice, to be folded in half and eaten on the street.