As a metaphor for Penn Station's present and future, the sewage shower is tough to beat. It began one morning earlier this month, a broken ceiling pipe unleashing torrents of waste down into the ticketing area. The leak was quickly confirmed by the MTA—which, along with NJ Transit, pays Amtrak for use of the tracks—and a half dozen dumpsters were carted out to collect the droppings. The excess, flowing toward the eateries, was hastily mopped toward Tracks 18 and 19 of the Long Island Railroad, spreading the feculent stench throughout the building.

The pipe was still leaking by evening rush hour, when Vornado, the realty company that owns the plaza, got around to issuing an apology. By then, thousands of commuters had passed the poop deluge, many of them continuing on to the bowels of Penn Station seemingly unfazed. Others stopped to take note of the building's quickly deteriorating conditions, with one observer praising "the new water feature at Penn Station."

In recent weeks, Governor Andrew Cuomo has expressed increasing frustration with the state of affairs at the station. A "Summer of Agony," he's now predicting, for a "literally crumbling" station not expected to improve "for the foreseeable future." Construction on the Gateway Program, which would dig a desperately-needed new train tunnel with two tracks under the Hudson, is supposed to begin by the end of the year. But that $24 billion project has long relied on sizable federal assistance, and the White House doesn't seem to be returning Cuomo's calls.

Assuming the tunnel does end up getting dug, it's not entirely clear what will happen next. On Tuesday, the governor called for the creation of a task force dedicated to coming up with an "aggressive action plan," and is proposing that the state wrest control of Penn Station from Amtrak. His other big idea has been slammed by the Times architecture critic as offering "hardly more than cosmetic changes," a view echoed recently by the paper's editorial board. That proposal involves turning the decaying James Farley Post Office Eighth Avenue into a new train hall for Amtrak, which would help only 20 percent of the station's 650,000 daily commuters, according to an Empire State Development study. Penn, meanwhile, would get wider concourses, new security tech, and a slightly raised ceiling fit with LED lights meant to imitate a blue sky. (That ceiling is only two feet higher, but imagine the view during the next downpour).

If Cuomo was inclined to consider other proposals, there are some ideas for Penn Station that may meet his stated intention to work in a spirit of "creativity and cooperation." One of the most ambitious visions—a cooperative effort between an architecture firm, the National Civic Art Society, and an urban planning think tank—would have Penn Station rebuilt in its former image, while crucially revising the Gateway Plan to reimagine the transit terminal as a through running station. Here's our breakdown of what that would look like (with lots of visual aids, as this can quickly get confusing).



The old Pennsylvania Station. (Berenice Abbott, Courtesy of the NYPL)

THE ARCHITECTURE

Entering the old Pennsylvania Station, Langston Hughes once wrote, was like passing through "some vast basilica of old / That towers above the terror of the dark / As bulwark and protection to the soul." To be in this Beaux-Arts space was a rapturous experience for Hughes, inspiring "a search within each soul" for something larger. That station was demolished in 1962—a decision so lamented that it led to the Landmark Law two years later—and replaced by an entertainment venue with a commuting underbelly. Six decades later, the second iteration of Penn Station evokes its own sort of existentialism, a commuting experience that Gothamist Editorial Director Jen Carlson has described as a "Hellmouth...crushing the souls of those passing through."

The general awfulness of Penn Station today is made all the more painful by the grandeur of the first version. Inspired by the Roman Baths of Caracalla, the original McKim, Mead and White masterpiece featured 150 foot glass ceilings, pink granite walls, and 84 Doric columns.The general waiting room, large enough to fit the entirety of Grand Central Station, possessed nine acres of travertine and granite. Summarizing the difference between that station and the one that came after it, architecture critic Vincent Scully famously said: "One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat."

The restoration of this godly entrance has been the project of Richard Cameron, the principle designer at Atelier & Co, since the 1990s. In his "Plan To Rebuild Penn Station," Cameron argues that the reconstruction of the former station could be achieved using the original McKim, Mead and White drawings, all 353 of which are currently archived by the New York Historical Society. He sees it as an "act of civil redemption," the only way to rectify the "cultural war crime" of the earlier demolition.

The first component of the plan, he says, would be restoring the original station's enormous open space, including its classical columns, high vaulted ceilings and thick glass floors that brought light four stories underground. The middle phase, a project of a separate think tank, would see the construction of a modern transit network connecting the station's various trains (more on that later). The third phase would be to redevelop the area in and around Penn Station, with the intention of making the station a tourist attraction similar to Grand Central Terminal.



(Provided by Rebuild Penn Station)

"There's no question that something dramatic needs to be done on that site, so why not just rebuild the old version, which everyone loved anyway," Cameron, who also cofounded the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, told me. "You could do nothing better for this city's architecture than bringing back that historic building."

While Cameron has championed the plan for decades, the idea was given new life after Cuomo announced his intention to overhaul the decrepit station last year. The National Civic Art Society has since thrown its support behind Rebuild Penn, campaigning for the original design while assisting with some "modifications to suit the needs of the present day."

"One of our ideas is to convert the original carriageways into covered arcades that could house outdoor markets, cafes, various retail stores," said Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society. Shubow predicts such civic amenities would revitalize the neighborhood, which he estimates to be valued at 30 percent less than equivalent property surrounding Grand Central.

Transforming Penn Station from a transportation depot to a destination could be especially key in getting the blessing of Vornado, which owns most of the neighboring property, including Two Penn Plaza. While that high rise on the east side of the station could be demolished in the Rebuild Penn proposal, Shubow has also suggested re-cladding the building in stone.

A spokesperson for Vornado, which is currently one of the developers on Cuomo's Farley Post Office, declined to comment.

It's clear from speaking with both Shubow and Cameron that they see their Very Big Plan as increasingly within reach, even if the principal stakeholders—Cuomo, Port Authority, MTA, Amtrak, and Vornado—have thus far remained silent. Cameron estimates the cost at $3 billion, adding that it's "perfectly feasible, and less than the cost of the Oculus, which deals with a fraction of the passengers."

That price tag doesn't include the relocation of Madison Square Garden, another hurdle that proponents of the Rebuild Penn plan see as conquerable. The arena is owned by the Madison Square Garden Company, which since 1982 has enjoyed a yearly tax exemption—last year it was nearly $50 million—in exchange for not relocating to New Jersey. But Cameron speculates that "if someone let them take the tax credit, they’d move in a second."

The most pressing obstacle right now, according to advocates, has to do with Albany. "It's amazing how defeatist their attitude is," said Cameron. "It's entirely possible to do this, and it really is a question of someone like Cuomo deciding that this is going to be his legacy project."

THE TRANSPORTATION