Today's Walk: A Private Crossing?

On a trail that crosses private property, the owner of the land may grant permission to allow passage. This easement may be revoked at will by the property owner. Sidewalks in Manhattan are, of course, public rights of way, so it is unexpected, to say the least, to find a plaque declaring a patch of heavily-traveled sidewalk on Seventh Avenue to be private property. Yet such a plaque can be found directly across the street from the entrance to Penn Station. Is this a prank? Who would go to the trouble to cement it into the sidewalk?

"PRIVATE PROPERTY
PERMISSION TO CROSS
REVOKED AT WILL"

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Penn Station

New York's original Pennsylvania Station was an architectural masterpiece designed by the firm McKim, Mead, and White. It was completed in 1910, photographed by Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) in 1936, and torn down without ceremony in 1963. The destruction of this irreplaceable building gave rise to today's landmark preservation movement. Penn Station, of course, was rebuilt, but the current incarnation is of no architectural significance.

Berenice Abbott's photo gives an idea of the scale and the atmosphere of the vast structure when nearly empty. As architectural elements, the massive metal pillars appear almost like tree trunks under an urban forest canopy, rising majestically toward the middle of the image. This limited edition print, no. 18/100, is available from Chris Beetles Fine Photographs in London.

Berenice Abbott, Pennsylvania Station, New York, 1936, No. 18/100

Berenice Abbott, Pennsylvania Station, New York, 1936, No. 18/100
Chris Beetles Fine Photographs

http://www.chrisbeetlesfinephotographs.com/gallery/architecture/pennsylvania-station-new-york-1936.html

Berenice Abbott, Pennsylvania Station, New York, 1936, No. 18/100

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