Obsolescence
The pier continued luxury liner service until the 1930s when a luxury liner row was built between West 44th and West 52nd Street to handle larger liners.
The pier was used for troop ships during World War II. After the war it was used as part of the W. R. Grace and Company and United States Lines freight operations.
In the 1980s plans were made to demolish it (and the rest of the Chelsea Piers) for the Westway highway. In 1991 the structure was torn down although it remained an open air pier and the entrance archway was preserved. A faded sign on the archway notes the name of the merged Cunard White Star line.
Read more about this topic: Pier 54