Pennsylvania Station

Painted as Pennsylvania Station, Märklin’s toy station hall acknowledges that Americans—and of course New Yorkers—proudly identified the triumphal railroad station with Gotham itself. McKim, Mead & White’s monumental structure conjured Europe’s giant glass and metal rail stations and ancient Roman architecture. Built to bring Pennsylvania Railroad Company passengers to and from Manhattan without ferries, electrified tunnels held back the waters of the Hudson and East Rivers, Its controversial demolition in 1966 triggered the creation of New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to save historically important city structures.