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✎ Built in 1903 by and named for the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it covers 48 acres and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100. The Beaux-Arts style terminal is made primarily from granite. In fact, so much granite is used that the building emits relatively high levels of radiation.

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✍ The granite carving on one of the corners of the southern facing façade of Grand Central Terminal is a subtle reference to the shipping industry the Vanderbilts were so famous for. Spotted it on one of the corners of the façade.

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✎ The 13-foot clock atop Grand Central Terminal's 42nd St. façade contains the world's largest example of Tiffany glass. It is surrounded by the Glory of Commerce sculptural group, which includes representations of Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury. The sculptures were designed by French sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan and carved by the John Donnelly Company. At its unveiling in 1914, the 48-foot-high trio was considered the largest sculptural group in the world.

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✎ Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794 –1877), also known informally as "Commodore Vanderbilt", was an American business magnate and philanthropist who built his wealth -- $100 million at the time of his death -- in railroads and shipping. He is best known for building the New York Central Railroad. The 8½ ft. bronze statue was sculpted by Ernst Plassmann and dedicated in 1869. The statue was designed for an architectural setting, and meant to be seen only from the front. When dedicated in 1869, the sculpture was the centerpiece of a 150-foot-long, 31-foot-high pediment on Vanderbilt's Hudson River Railroad Freight Depot, just south of Canal Street. Bronze reliefs to either side showed sailboats, steamboats and railroads: the transportation industries in which Vanderbilt made his millions. The rest of the pediment was lost (hard to imagine misplacing something that large) at some point, though, and the statue is all that remains. The four-ton statue is half a century older than the 1913 Beaux-Arts Grand Central Terminal building behind it.

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