Grand Central's ceiling
Originally the concourse plans involved a skylight, which would have looked drastically different. After realizing how impractical it would be, the architects decided to employ a decorative mural of astrological signs and constellations instead.
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
Even before Grand Central Terminal officially opened on February 2, 1913 New Yorkers were teased with descriptions of the mural that had been painted on its vaulted ceiling, with the New York Times telling of its “effect of illimitable space” and how “fortunately there are no chairs in the concourse or . . . some passengers might miss their trains while contemplating this starry picture.”
While the effect the painting has on commuters today is the same, the mural has undergone significant change. In fact, it’s not even the same mural.
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
The Grand Central Terminal ceiling took dozens of people to create but was primarily the work of five men:
architect Whitney Warren, of Warren & Wetmore, the Terminal’s architects,
French artist Paul Helleu,
muralist J. Monroe Hewlett and
painter Charles Basing of the Hewlett-Basing Studio in Brooklyn,
as well as astronomer Dr. Harold Jacoby of Columbia University.
Drawing heavily from Johann Bayer’s 1603 star atlas Uranometria for the design of the constellations, the mural was originally painted right onto the Terminal’s plaster vaulted ceiling.
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
Less than two months after the Terminal opened one astute commuter noticed the design of the ceiling is actually backwards; west is east and east is west. This was a bit embarrassing for the New York Central Railroad who, when the Terminal opened, had published a pamphlet about the ceiling writing “it is safe to say that many school children will go to the Grand Central Terminal to study this representation of the heavens.”
Both Jacoby and Basing were asked how the ceiling’s layout could have gotten flipped. Jacoby offered the explanation that the original diagram had been laid out correctly and would match perfectly against a celestial atlas. As such, the diagram was meant to be held overhead. When the image was projected onto the ceiling for painting, Basing (according to Jacoby) must have laid it on the floor and projected it upwards, reversing the image. As for Basing, he “showed little interest in the technical defects and added that he thought the work had been done very well.”
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
A postcard of the ceiling mural, probably based on the original diagram Jacoby mentioned, shows the layout as it was meant to be, with Cancer in the east and Aquarius in the west. But something about this layout is still troubling. Even though all the constellations are now where they should be, Orion is reversed! Although he’s placed in the correct location, the constellation itself is backwards! Which means that on the ceiling itself (which was projected backwards) he’s the only constellation whose stars are oriented correctly.
The images of the constellations were based almost line for line on the engravings in the Bayer Atlas and it is here, in the Uranometria, that the source of Orion’s Grand Central confusion lies. Typically, when constellations were depicted in celestial atlases they followed the Hipparchus rule; that is, if the stars are depicted as they would be seen from the earth, the constellation around them will be drawn facing the earth.
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
Uranometria is a star atlas produced by Johann Bayer, published in Augsburg in 1603 under the title (translated) "Uranometria, containing charts of all the constellations, drawn by a new method and engraved on copper plates." A literal translation of "Uranometria" is "Measuring the Heavens." It was the first atlas to cover the entire celestial sphere.
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
Bayer faced Orion the wrong way, then the mural turned him around, only to be spun again when the original diagram was projected backwards.
By 1924, just 11 years after it was painted, the mural was in sad shape. A leaky roof had “filled [the] sky with tramp comets and a mildewed way” while causing the original blue background to be “invaded by patches of white, black, and green.”
Another twenty years later and the ceiling had “faded to a hue something like that of a khaki shirt overdosed with Navy blue” with “a vast brown streak near the center and most of the gold . . . flaked off the starbeams.”
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
In August of 1944 the scaffolds went up, both to repair the leaky roof and the moldy mural. In June, 1945 the mural was revealed to be “entirely restored.” Except that it wasn’t.
Rather than restore the original mural, the New York Central simply painted a new one. Covering the entire ceiling with eight-foot by four-foot sheets of cement-and-asbestos board, an entirely new mural was painted from scratch. Looking up at the ceiling today, it’s easy to see the outlines of the boards.
Even more curious is the sudden appearance of an entirely new constellation. Above Aries’ head is depicted the small constellation Triangulum, literally “The Triangle.”
Grand Central's ceiling (from untapped New York)
Not part of the original design, this second triangle was added during the 1945 restoration. Why it was will probably never be known. The constellation, known as Triangulum Minus (or “The Lesser Triangle”) did appear in a few celestial atlases in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but is not in Bayer and had long been obsolete by 1944.
Not only was a completely new mural painted, it was altered from the original design. While the backwards orientation was kept, the new constellations were repainted with much less detail than their original counterparts, bearing only the outlines of the intricate Bayer engravings upon which they were based.
Will the original mural ever be seen again? Probably not. While it is uncertain how much of the original is even left underneath the “restoration” panels, to remove them may be to invite other issues as they contain asbestos. In their present form, bolted securely to the ceiling, they pose no threat and it is unlikely Metro-North would risk removing them.
Grand Central Terminal (from GCT history)
INFORMATION BOOTH CLOCK
The crown jewel of Grand Central, this Main Concourse landmark has everyone saying, “meet me at the clock!” There, you will find a window where over 1000 questions per day are answered.
The clock—like all clocks in the Terminal—is set by the atomic clock in the U.S. Naval Observatory in Bethesda, Maryland, and is accurate to within 1 second every 20 billion years! This famed opal glass clock above the Information Booth is valued at as much as $20 million.
Grand Central Terminal (from GCT history)
The low ceramic arches featuring Guastavino tile next to the Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant create an acoustical phenomenon letting you talk to a friend in the opposite corner. Grab a friend, lean your heads into opposing corners, and test it out!