歷經世事滄桑的紐約中央車站

Grand Central

紐約中央車站

The survivor

歷經世事滄桑的倖存者

As thestation celebrates its centennial, New York looks to the next 100 years.

中央車站迎來百年慶典，此時紐約彷彿看到了下一個100年

“EUROPE has its cathedralsand we have Grand Central Station,” said Philip Johnson, an architect, when healong with Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Kent Barwick, then a director of NewYork’s Municipal Art Society (MAS), fought to save the station from demolitionin the 1970s. It took a Supreme Court decision to save the magnificentBeaux-Arts building; but it survived and launched its year-long centennialcelebration on February 1st.

“歐洲有大教堂，我們有中央車站，” 建築大師菲利普·約翰遜（Philip Johnson）與傑奎琳·肯尼迪·奧納西斯（Jackie Kennedy Onassis）和肯特·巴維克（Kent Barwick）在一起的時候曾這樣說過。在20世紀70年代，紐約市政藝術協會（MAS）的一名導演曾爲中央車站免於拆遷而奮鬥奔波。最高法院下令才使這座宏偉的藝術建築免於毀壞，不管怎樣它倖存了下來，並在2月1日舉行了百年慶典。

The station’s architectural oddities, stilldelight. A concave ceiling in the main concourse depicting the constellationsdraws the eye upwards. The station helped create New York’s premiere businessdistrict, where 250,000 people work, and it still serves it well.

中央車站的建築風格奇異，但又賞心悅目，中心大廳星空穹頂引得人們擡頭觀看。中央車站帶動創造了可容納25萬人工作的紐約主商業區，並且爲商業區提供良好的服務。

The station’s construction was a vast undertaking:25 miles of water and sewer lines had to be relocated, and 3m cubic yards ofdirt and rock were excavated. Trackswere lowered underground and electrified and the ground above became Park Avenue. The station,since 1991 home to acommuter line and several subway lines, was once the main gateway to the rest of thecountry. In 1913, 75,000 passed through the station per day; today that numberis 750,000, with 1m people passing though the station on busy days. Some160,000 more are expected when the commuter line to Long Island is extended toGrand Central in 2019.

建造中央車站是一項浩大的工程：必須重新安置25英里的自來水管道和污水管道，挖掘300萬立方土石，鐵軌降到地下，統一電氣化，地面是公園大道。自1991年成爲通勤站和幾條地鐵線的始發站以來，中央車站曾是人們出入美國其他地方的主要通道。1913年車站每天接待75000人，現在達到75萬人，高峯時段會達到100萬人。如果2019年中央車站開通連接長島的交通線，屆時車站每天通過人數預計會再增16萬。

Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor, wants toensure the surrounding area, home to 14 Fortune 500 companies, remains adesirable business district. He has proposed changing the zoning laws for the78-block area around the station in East Midtown. Re-zoning would make iteasier to demolish out-of-date buildings and allow grander commercial space tobe built. He also wants to partially pedestrianise Vanderbilt Avenue, anunderused street behind the station named for a railway tycoon. The area doeshave a lot of older buildings with high vacancy rates. The average age ofoffice buildings in the area is 73, much older than similar places in globalrivals.

紐約市長邁克爾·布隆伯格（Michael Bloomberg）希望確保周圍區域仍是令人滿意的商業區，它也是14家財富500強公司的所在地。他提議改變東中城車站附近78個區域的分區法規。重新劃區將更好地拆除過時的建築，建造大規模的商業區。他還希望把部分範德比爾特大道設爲行人專區，這條大道以一位鐵路大亨命名，位於中央車站後方，當時還未投入使用。這片區域有許多老建築，空置率很高，辦公大樓的平均年齡是73歲，比全球同類地區建築的歷史久遠得多。

New York has a history of bold vision. Its streetgrid was designed for 1m people at a time when the population barely topped 100, subway was built when much of New York was still farmland. Mr Bloomberg haslong looked to the future. He has re-zoned 36% of the city since 2002. Withjust one year left in his term, he is moving quickly with his plans, which concern many, like VinCipolla, the present head of the MAS, who accepts that midtown must evolve, butis worried about unprotected historic buildings. Just like Mrs Onassis.

紐約向來具備遠見膽識，其街道的設計流量爲100萬人，而當時人口才剛剛10萬人，在大部分土地仍是農田的情況下就修建地鐵。布隆伯格一直放眼未來，自2002年以來曾重新劃分了紐約36%的地區。在即將離任的一年裏，他快速實施自己的規劃，使得許多人爲之擔心。其中就包括MAS的現任領導文西·珀拉（Vin Cipolla），他贊同市中心一定要發展，但也擔心未受到保護的歷史建築遭到破壞。他的行事風格跟奧納西斯夫人很類似。