Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-26


McKim, Augustus st. Gaudens and Freder-
lex Law OlmSted jr.
Removal of Tracks.
The commission had barely started on its
work when it became evident that the
proper treatment of the park site required
the removal of railway tracks and stations
from the sites authorized by Congress. The
site upon which the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Company was authorized to erect
it's terminal placed a busy commercial cen
ter within a square of the Capitol grounds,
while the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
occupation of the Mall forever blocked any
adequate treatment between the Monument
and the Capitol
1t was these facts that led to the intro
duction in Congress of a bill providing for
the erection of a union station of monu-
mental design and the construction of nee
essary approaches to it. This bill, embody-
ing most of the provisions contained in the
acts of 1901, but so modified as to meet the
requirements of the two railroad companies
interested. was passed in February, 1903
The union station will be of monumental
design, and be located on Il low section of
ground at the intersection of Massa chu-
sets and Delaware avenues, the average
elevation of which was about twenty-five
feet above mean tide, which involves some
decided changes in street grades. To SIM
plify these changes to some extent a grand
plaza, 500 feet wide by 1000 feet long, will
be formed in front of the building. 1t will
be handsomely decorated with balustrades,
terraces and fountains. To form the plaza
and bring the streets to the proposed new
level will require about 10000 cubic yards of
earth, the fill being thirty-five feet deep over
a considerable area. Nine separate and dis
tinct streets will lead into the grounds
three of which will be new and two modi-
fled to better fit the plaza scheme. Through
these radiating streets and avenues large
crowds of people will be able to enter or
leave the station without difficulty, while
the plaza will provide ample space for
massing troops and taking care of the
crowds upon occasions of public ceremo-
malls, such as take place from time to time
at the national capital.
Will Face Capitol.
The station will face toward the dome of
the Capitol, and be less than half a mile
from it. The architectural treatment will
be in keeping with its character as the YES
Thule or gateway TO the capital city. With
this view, its architectural motives have
been drawn from the triumphal arches of
Rome.
The main building will be $50 feet long
and from 60 to 100 feet in height. 1t is
being built of white granite. The three
entrance arches will each be 80 feet in
height and 80 feet in width, and far exceed
In scale their Roman prototypes These
central doOrways will lead into a vaulted
open-air vestibule and thence into the main
waiting room. At the end paviions will be
located two forty-foot arched carriage en-
frances, the last one leading to a suite of
apartments for the President of the United
States and his guests. and the one at the
west end will lead to a general carriage
porch, near the ticket and baggage lobby.
The central vestibule and the end paviIions
are connected by an open-air portico and
constitute continuous covered porch
along the front of the entire building.
The general waiting room will be one of
the finest in the country. 1t will be 220 feet
long by 100 feet wide and covered by
Roman barrel vault ninety feet high that
will be decorated with sunken Golfers or
panels after the manner of the bath of
Diocletian. Plenty of natural light will be
supplied by a semicircular window at each
end and seventy-five feet in diameter and by
five semicircular windows of thirty feet
diameter on each side. At the east end of
this hall will be grouped the dining ROOM
lunch room and women's waiting room. At
the west end and on opposite sides of a
lobby fifty feet wide are to be located the
ticket offices and baggage-checking ROOM
with the smoking room and package room
adjacent. Telephone and telegraph booths
will be provided in the general waiting
room. The baggage room will be located
in the basement and reached from the west