St. Louis Union Station - St. Louis, Missouri
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 38° 37.763 W 090° 12.437
15S E 743104 N 4279350
St. Louis Union Station is considered by many experts to be the grandest and the most important railway edifice erected before the close of the 19th-century.
Waymark Code: WM3079
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 01/19/2008
Views: 73
From Missouri - A Guide to the "Show Me" State - St. Louis section:
UNION
STATION, S. side of Market St., Eighteenth to Twentieth Sts., is a four-story
Bedford-stone building of modified Romanesque design, rising at the front is a
slender, 230-foot clock tower. The waiting room on the main floor, below
street level, is connected with the Grand Hall above by a staircase which passes
under an arch--across the 50-foot span of which a whisper is easily audible.
Lighted by stained-glass windows on the south, the Grand Hall rises to a vaulted
ceiling the height of the building's peaked roof. At successive floor levels the
Hall is surrounded by corridors containing offices. The station and its
train sheds and power house, covering more than 20 acres, were opened in 1896.
The were designed by Theodore C. Link.
With the growing popularity of automobiles and aircraft as
alternatives modes of transportation, St. Louis Union Station fell into disuse
by the late 1970's and the last train pulled out from Union Station 1978. After
being vacant for seven years St. Louis Union Station under went a $150 million
restoration and was reopened in 1985 as a modern commercial center with mall of
shops, restaurants and a luxury hotel. St. Louis Union Station is now a popular
tourist destination and is considered one of the largest adaptive reuse project
in the United States.
St. Louis Union Station was listed as a
National Historic Landmark in 1970.