10 Gorgeous, Nostalgic Photos of New York's Old Penn Station

Fifty years ago today, on October 28, 1963, destruction began on the original Pennsylvania Station in New York. The iconic Beaux Arts structure, designed by McKim, Mead, and White, opened in 1910 with a distinct air of grandeur: an exterior surrounded by 84 Doric columns, a concourse with a 150-foot vaulted ceiling, and a train shed of "unparalleled monumentality," in the words of historian Carroll Meeks.

"Such opulent dimensions were not functionally necessary; the companies could afford magnificence and enjoyed their munificent role, as princes had in predemocratic ages," wrote Meeks in his 1956 book, The Railroad Station: An Architectural History.