Chris, you are very right. My grandpa who worked here in the 50's said when New York Central Railroad owned it they took care of the place which includes roofs, parking lots, and many more.
Then when Penn Central bought it, it went all down hill from there. They tore down some buildings like the Powerplant,Ice House,and the Couch Shop just because the taxes were to high. They stopped reparing the roofs and not repaving the parking lots. All the engines that had the NYC logo on it were scraped off and put on a Penn Central Logo.
The hinges are on this side. Possibly the hinge pins could have been removed without damaging the door and then put back when you were done satisfying your curiosity.
Well, your lack of sleep didn't hinder your creativeness at all! The gallery turned out great. It is nice that you were able to find out so many different tidbits to add as well as comparison photos. It really rounded out the experience.
I am often filled with disbelief at what some think of as progress. If heating and cooling was the problem then why did they also cover up the columns and change the door frames? Even if they dropped the ceiling they could have left the other details. It would have still been lovely.
"To change
and to change for the better
are two different things."
-- German Proverb
This looks like it should be out in front of a department store or a bank or something. What an interesting door.
I just couldn't imagine some poor mentally ill person getting "stuck" in one of these doors. How confusing for them. Or even scary!
I notice it is only a two "compartment" door. Most of the ones I see these days have three or four "compartments". This one would easily allow a wheelchair to fit, or other equipment.