The Biltmore Room, located in New York’s Grand Central Station, has an exciting and romantic history. Also known as the kissing room, the space is located under the former Biltmore hotel. It is situated in the northwestern corner of Grand Central, this sequestered spot used to be a place used to be a meeting place where loved ones would reunite and travel up to the hotel above for enjoyment, such as eating at the restaurant. The room is just as sweet as its name connotes, the space had a reputation of being a space where people would wait to meet soldiers upon their homecoming. This tradition has become obsolete with the reduction of certain train lines, inventions of new technologies, and closing of the Biltmore Hotel. In fact, this once vivacious meeting spot has been downgraded to a space that houses shoeshine kiosks, a flower stall and a massive newsstand; all of which are highly under-frequented. According to the MTA, the space has been underused for decades. The hotel above it was converted into yet another New York office space, and transit through the space was forever changed.
The Hudson News Stand is really unnecessary in its placement for two reasons. The first reason being because there are two other Hudson News Stands in Grand Central Station. The other reason being because those other two stands have much more centralized locations, one in the main concourse area and the other in the center of the lower level near the food court. The Biltmore Room, as previously stated, is in the northwest corner of the station, and it is pretty much removed from the rest of the building. The decentralized location of this newsstand combined with the central locations of the other stands, makes this newsstand essentially obsolete. It’s very rare to see even one person in the News Stand other than employees. According to an MTAspokes person, this newsstand makes significantly less amounts of revenue than its counterparts. Now that we all agree that we should get rid of it, what can we do with the newly opened space?
Grand Central is often looked upon as a city within a city, a microcosm for New York City as a whole. It is a tourist location and a functional place that provides transportation to the masses. Really, what doesn’t it have? It has shops, it has culture and performers, it has restaurants, it has people of all varieties, but what is it missing? It’s missing a park!
The place to start with this project is to reflect on the rich and sweet history of the room. My idea at its core is to turn the space into a room that is once again a meeting place for people and a place that pays tribute to the history of the space. The first step of this plan is to get the inefficient Hudson Newsstand out of there. The next step is to put in a small boutique café in the corner to make the space a destination. The café will have seating out in front of it that looks like a patio. The chairs and tables should be made with delicate and subtle designs. The café will add a nice ambiance, especially because the other storefront in the Biltmore room is the Dahlia Flower Shop. The largest issue with the café is its proximity to one of the Grand Central Starbucks. But I think it’s vital to promote local coffee shops and give them a place within the station as well. Also, boutique cafés tend to have a completely different ambiance and charm than a chain.
Then, for the center that is newly empty, I want to transform it into an indoor art park. What this means is that there will be potted trees and plants, park benches, lamps designed like street lamps that fit the octagonal shape of the room. The room will feature art of the famous New York City artists to bring a touch of culture and romance back to the space.
The two defining two permanent art aspects of the park will be the fountain and the pergola like area. Both will be designed to make the indoor park feel welcoming, cozy, and romantic. The fountain will be a Romanesque fountain dedicated to the Roman goddess Venus, who is the goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility and prosperity. The pergola will be white wood with green arrowhead philodendrons (Syngonium podophyllum) grown and intertwined between the structures. I choose the arrowhead philodendrons because they are great indoor vines. This vine also has little white markings, which compliments the white wood. The arrowhead shape slightly resembles aheart, which follows the themes of the room.
There will be four benches and four trellises between them to make the circular/octagonal shape evident. The trellises will be brief versions of the pergola, meaning they will have the white wood and arrowhead philodendrons vines. The motif of the area will be to bring the romance of an outdoor space into Grand Central. Having plants will even help better the air quality of the station. One of the biggest challenges that this project faces is that it is very unusual to have an indoor park space. But I think Grand Central’s air quality; combined with Manhattans reputation of being a concrete jungle warrants any and every integration of new park spaces.
Ideally for the trees, it should be dwarf citrus trees. This will be reminiscent of an Italian limonaia, as well as provide a tasty treat for visitors during some parts of the year. They should most definitely be dwarf trees so they don’t overtake the landscape of the space. It needs to be a careful balance of elements without being too busy or chaotic. The only problem with this plan is the lack of natural light in this space. I propose putting in some skylights, similar to those in the subway system. This way the integrity of grand central station is not compromised but natural light does flow into to the space. The natural light is crucial for the survival of the plants and for the park atmosphere to feel complete.
My inspiration for this space came from the rich historical background as well as Citygarden in St. Louis. St. Louis had a big problem of a large chunk of their downtown being underused. The New Art Parks article discusses the effect that a park area can have. The artist who created a lot of the artwork in the 2001 Citygarden comments on how the art and space was used differently than the architect thought it would be, because people like to go into fountains or play on sculptures. Therefore I think it would be fun to require all artists to think about their projects as interactive. The St. Louis project livened up the downtown and brought traffic to an area that had been underused for years. Which is why I thought it was a great inspiration for this project, even though this is a much smaller scale.
The rest of the space will be open for movement and for artists to create proposals. I think that the Biltmore Room should cultivate a temporary arts program where artists submit their ideas for an installation. For the installation space, there are currently two plots of space in the Biltmore room dedicated to Eddie’s Shoe Repair. Since shoe repairs are kind of outdated (though still charming and functional), I suggest cutting down from two plots to one plot for the shoe repair kiosk. This additional space will keep the area from feeling over crowded. And can be used for interactive art installations.
With themes of Italian gardens, a new café, and the first indoor art park, the “kissing room” will once again be a destination within Grand Central Station. It will once again be a spot where people will want to meet, a place that will pay tribute to its beautiful history, a place that will make Grand Central even more appealing than it already is.
WORKS CITED
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