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Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 - The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. - Paper No. 1150 by Charles W. Raymond
page 27 of 44 (61%)
included the construction of subways and bridges for the support of 31st
and 33d Streets and Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Avenues, the Station
building between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, the foundations for the
post office to be erected west of Eighth Avenue, the service power-house
in 31st Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, the power-house in
Long Island City, the traction system, tracks, signals, and
miscellaneous facilities required in the physical construction of the
entire terminal railroad ready for operation. Messrs. McKim, Mead, and
White were the architects for the Station and Messrs. Westinghouse,
Church, Kerr and Company executed the structural engineering work, both
in the station and for the support of the streets, as well as the
construction of the subways.

The station is of steel skeleton construction with masonry curtain
walls, all supported by a system of columns extending to a rock
foundation. This building covers two city blocks and one intersecting
street, and has an area of about 8 acres. It is 774 ft. long, 433 ft.
wide, with an average height above the street of 69 ft., and a maximum
of 153 ft. The main waiting-room is 277 ft. long, 103 ft. wide and 150
ft. high. The Concourse is 340 ft. long and 210 ft. wide.

The level of the track system below the street surface varies from 39 to
58 ft., and is from 7 to 10 ft. below mean high water in the harbor,
thereby necessitating the establishment of an elaborate system of
drainage over the entire station yard area. Access to the street is
gained by elevators and stairways.

To accelerate the loading and unloading of the trains, high platforms
will be constructed in the station on a level with the floors of the
cars, in order to avoid the use of car steps and increase the traffic
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