Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-04
SPLENDID STRUCTUR
New Union Station to Be
Lasting Ornament.
LARGER THAN CAPITOL
ONE OF SERIES OF GREAT STA
TIoNs CONTEMPLATED.
Thirty-Three Tracks of Which Thirteen
Are Depressed Twenty Feet
Below Street Level.

Inc new union railroad station,
which is being erected in this city at the
intersection Of Massachusetts and Della
ware avenues, is deliberately described in
the issue of the Architectural Record.
which appeared today. The magnificence
of the enormous structure. which will sur
pass the Capitol in every dimension except
height, is set forth in the fullest degree,
and the building is especially treated as an
ornament of lasting worth to the chief city
of the nation.
THE terminal station Is a monument In
enduring granite to the Chicago worlds
fair, and its architect, Daniel II. Burnham,
says the writer. The white city is van
ished like a beautiful dream, but its CHEF
designer. grown greater with the years.
has produced in this building a structure
which surpasses the most beautiful of the
ephemeral creations of the vanished city
l have TO doubt that that great orga nizer
when he gazed on his finished work in the
stucco buildings of the Columbian exposi-
ton, dreamed even then of the day when he
should do it all over again in everlasting
stone. That day has arrived, and the full
fllment of his dream In such building as
the Washington station should be an inspi-
ration to every one of us.
Great Feature of Establishment.
Though not in any sense part of the
VI 6hiai ElitiIi VI peOtSS WASHINGTON as
worked out by his Secretary of State,
Thomas Jefferson, with the expert advice
of Mai L'Enfant. the new terminal is one
of the great features of the establishment
of the capital city, and being the actual
design of a member of the comm ;ssion OF
architects which has restored the plan of
George Washington. it gives the motif, as
it We're. of the grand finale of the COMPOST
ton. 1t is the first of the series of great
buildings which is to make Washington a
white city that will indeed be the wonder
of the world. The Washington terminal is
only one of series of great railway sta
tons that are to be built in the United
States. The terminals of the Pennsylvania
railroad and the New York Central in New
York city TO be colossal structures. An
other great New York terminal, although
possibly of lesser magnitude, is that of the
Lackawahna railroad at Hoboken. Cleve-
land Is to have great station, and Buffalo
and Chicago, to supply the fast growing
needs of the country.
The site of the Washington terminal is
very close to the National Capitol, the front
OF the building facing up Delaware ave-
nue. directly toward the northwest corner
of the Capitol. The grade of the locality
where the station stands is to be raised
about thirty-five feet. the job of filing
alone being rather big one. requiring
some two million yards of new material
the raised area covering many acres.
In But One Essential.
1.-The new terminal Is less than the Cap
ito in one dimension only. that of height,
but viewed from the northeast it is the
dome alone that surpasses 1t in height In
the dimensions of length and breadth 1t ex-
ceeds the Capitol. the stations length being
100 feet, as against the Capitops 74s feet Gu
inches and it's breadth being 343 feet 8
inches as against the CapitoPs 2I0 feet 10
inches Few who read the papers or maya
zines are unfamiliar with the appearance of
the Wa Shfnpton terminal The building 10
sort of grand trumphaI archway inspired
by the triumphal arches OF Rome.
The central pavilion has three arches
each 80 feet high, leading into the main
waiting room, and the end paviions are
single arches 40 feet high, which are In
tended as carriage entrances. The one to-
ward the east is for official and leads
to the suite of apartments exclusively for
the President and the guests of the nation:
the one toward the west is for the public
and gives immediate access to the ticket
lobby. The: building faces on plaza 600
feet long and 500 feet wide. The station
proper Is $40 feet long. and the concourse
behind is 7GO feet long. The interior, as far
as the main rooms are concerned is rooted
with Roman barrel vaults. The general
waiting room. with clear width of 100 feet
and a length of 220 feet, will be 30 feet
high 1t Is lighted by semi-circular win
dow IS feet in diameter at each end and by
five semi-circuar windows 80 feet In diam
eter each side. The dining room east Of
the main waiting room is 80x100 feet and
IS feet high. The ticket lobby already re-
ferred to, is 5Ox1OO feet ard 35 feet high,
the same height as the dining room The
smoking room and the women's waiting
room will .be large apartments 30xS5, %
feet high.
Passenger Concourse.
1.-THE passenger concourse is 100 feet wide
and 755 feet long. inside dimensions, cov-
cred by an arched ceiling In single SPAN
and. according to statements of the archi-