Whether it is the number of stops, the area it covers within the city or the number of passengers it carries, Grand Central Terminal in New York is the largest train station in the world. This magnificent structure, built in 1913, hosts an average of 750,000 visitors every day.
Of course, the reason why Grand Central Terminal hosts so many guests in a day is not just because it is a train station. One of the different features of Grand Central from other stations is that it has a whisper gallery located on the lower floor of the station.
So why is this special place in the north gallery of Grand Central Terminal called the “Whisper Gallery”?
Every day, last calls for trains, people getting off the train and the voices of those greeting them create a huge noise in Grand Central Terminal. Of course, we could not expect the train station, which hosts an average of 750,000 people every day, to be quiet. Would you think that you could even hear whispers among all this noise? This is possible in the Whisper Gallery…
Covering an area of exactly 49 acres, the station was used as a central warehouse in 1871 and the area it used was quite small. However, after years of renovations, it was opened for use as a station in 1913 and began to cover more than 60 tracks. So much so that the fourth floor of the station is as big as a tennis court.
If you happen to be there one day, you can find the Whisper Gallery in the food court downstairs, right next to the popular Oyster Bar & Restaurant. There are four arched corners on this floor. A person turning to one of the arches can hear the whisper of the person standing in the other arch, even if the surroundings are very noisy. But how?
The engineering marvel behind the Whisper Gallery allows us to hear whispers.
Image: Tile-inlaid ceilings of New York’s Grand Central Terminal.
The striking walls of Grand Central Terminal are the work of Rafael Guastavino. Gustavino, a tile master, covered the station’s ceilings with his own tile works. These embroideries were called “Gustavino”.
These tiles create a curved ceiling. The ceiling tiles are tightly packed and there is no ventilation. Therefore, there is no place for sound waves to disappear.
Additionally, the station does not contain any material that can absorb sound. So when we just stand in one arch and whisper, the sound waves are trapped and travel up and into another arch. This way, someone standing in the other belt can hear our voice. That’s why the structure was named Whisper Wall.
So why do people who come to the Whisper Gallery love it so much?
Image: A man turning to an archway and whispering in the Whisper Gallery.
We cannot expect a place that hosts an average of 750,000 people a day to be quiet and serene. However, it must be exciting to be able to hear the whispers reaching from one arch to another in the Whisper Gallery, and to be able to hear the whispers of people who sometimes cannot hear each other even when they are side by side in a huge noise.
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