I came out of Penn Station and started walking along 32nd street toward Herald Square where I would catch the subway down to the International Center of Photography. But the first thing I saw was this building completely wrapped in black fabric. This is the side of the Hotel Pennsylvania which faces Penn Station. The Hotel Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and it opened on January 25, 1919. Its 2,200 guest rooms and baths made it the largest hotel in the world, a title it would hold for nearly a decade. Once the largest hotel in the world, it was the 4th largest hotel on the list of hotels in New York City in when it closed permanently on April 1, 2020. It is currently being demolished and will be replaced by 15 Penn Plaza, a 68-story tower. So that's what the fabric is for! It will keep the dust and debris from escaping during demolition. What a sad ending for a storied hotel.
Interesting but sad story. 2200 rooms in 1919 is amazing. How many stories is it? I googled the hotel but did not find that info. Hard to imagine the new Penn Tower with be 68 stories. Yikes!
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Dramatic photo. It is sad that so much history is being demolished to make bigger and taller buildings...betsey
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