New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-07-09
THE VANDERBILT RAILROAD DEPOT
Completion of the Building-Its APPEAR

From the New York W0rld
The great railroad depot erected by Com
modore Vanderbilt at Forty second street is
at last completed and ready for its occu-
pants This building fills want long felt
by New Workers, aside from which it is a
magnificent ornament to the city. and Will
doubtless prove lasting monument to Its
builder New York can now boast OF the
largest railroad depot in the country. and
her railroad men will no longer be COM
PEELED to transact their business in the lit
tie, low and incommodiOus inclOsure at
Twenty sixth, Twenty-seventh and Thrift
eth streets The new edifce is designed fer
the accommodation of all the roads that
have terminus in the city, and is provided
with the necessary waiting rooms and
ticket offices for the different passengers,
as we'll as the lines of tracks for the vari-
GUS trains. The building proper, which
extends from Forty second to Forty fifth
street, is 692 feet in length and 240 in width.
The materials used are smooth red brick
and iron painted white. The front or prin-
cipal elevation is on FOrty-second street.
and rears its magnificent proportions high
in the air. presenting most imposing ap-
pearance. The centre of the facade is COW
cred with tower 100 feet in height and
thanked at each end by towers Ito feet high.
The west elevation, as seen nom the new
street formed by the depot, exhibits similar
ITO feet in height. The north end is con-
structed entirely of iron, and has ten iron
arches for the ingress and egress of trains,
while the eastern side, which is the least
imposing, is for the most part built Of brick,
and will be used chiefly for the freight de-
partment. On the south side, fronting on
Forty-second street, the whole width OF the
building to the depth of forty feet and to the
height of three stories, is devoted to the
waiting rooms and offices of the New York
and New Haven railway.
On the ground floor, there is, first of all,
an ample baggage-room; next, the gentle
mems waiting room, and that for ladies.
These rooms are handsomely fitted up In
black walnut and oak, and supplied with
every convenience. Adjoining the ladies
waiting room is the ladies' dressing-roOm
which is furnished with all the modern con-
veniences, and is a model of elegance and
luxury. On the second floor are the offices
OF the superintendent, the stationery and
store-rooms, the chief clerk, treasurer, at
torney, president and the directors. On the
third floor are the conductors room, store
room for tickets, general ticket office, print
ing-room, and five small offices for undeter-
mined purposes. The west side of the build
ing, for its entire length, to the same depth
and heighth as on the south side, is similarly
designed for the business and traffic pur-
poses for the New York and Harlem rail
way, the Hudson River railroad, and the
New York Central railroad. In this way
the west and south end, to the depth of
forty feet, are occupied solely by Offices, and
the central space. six hundred and fifty feet
by two hundred, forms a monstrous car
house. to which admission is gained by the
ten iron arches at the north end of the
building
The height of this immense car shed is
ninety feet. The roof is formed of glass
and corrugated iron, and is supported by
thirty one semi-circular trusses of iron, each
measuring four feet in width by one foot in
thickness. These trusses are painted in rich
colors, and ON the lower sections there Is a
good deal of gliding, while the iron sheeting
extending between the arches is painted
blue tinge. The effect of the whole is per-
fectly gorgeous. At night the interior is
lighted up by twelve chandeliers, each pro-
reflector. High up on the walls, in letters
six feet high, are inscribed the names: &C.
Vanderbilt, president; w. II. Vanderbilt,
treasurer" There are twelve lines of rail-
way running the entire leugth of this stu
pendous she'd divided into groups of two or
three by raised platforms, composed OF
stone and cement, for the accommodation
of the four lines which start from the Union
depot. At the southeast corner of the build
ing, at the junction of Fourth avenue and
Forty-second street, are two lines of rail-
road, which form the terminus of the Fourth
Avenue railroad, by which passengers will
be enabled to step on board the steam cars
from the street cars without exposure to the
weather.