A manual on the origin and development of Washington

by H. Paul Caemmerer

UNION STATION

In the design of the station much thought was given to the architectural features. Since Greece and Rome have furnished architectural inspiration for so many of the public buildings of Washington, a freely interpreted classic may be considered as the recognized architecture of these structures; and as the new station was to be the monumental gateway to the National Capital, it seemed fitting that the architectural motives should be drawn from the triumphal arches of Rome. They inspired Mr. Burnham to design the Union Station as he did. Construction work was begun in August, 1902, the terminal opened October 27, 1907, and was completed in April, 1908.

Some of the elements entering into the design of the terminal were unique. In most cities the probable future growth and nature of the traffic plays an important part in the planning of a passenger terminal. Washington has very little suburban traffic; and as it will never become a commercial center, the question of providing for future growth was of minor importance. The main problem was how to care for and provide against abnormal conditions, which arise at least once every four years. The handling of inauguration crowds had always been a heavy expense to the railroads, because they had to provide such elaborate temporary facilities. On the other hand, to provide adequate permanent facilities meant a large expenditure, with the attendant heavy carrying charges. On account of the dilapidated condition of the passenger facilities owned by the companies, and the urgent need of larger and better terminals, a union terminal seemed to show advantages over the separate stations provided for in the acts of 1901.

Courtesy of Commercial Photo Co.

UNION STATION—CONCOURSE

The layout embraces every feature and facility involved in the construction of a first-class terminal, including a depot building planned and constructed after the most modern lines, and containing every feature for the convenience, comfort, and pleasure of the traveling public; the most complete and up-to-date facilities for conducting the business of a large railroad station; a main power plant for furnishing power of every kind required for the successful operation of the station and yards; a large and completely equipped express terminal for caring for the express business handled by the companies; a modern commodious roundhouse and shop layout for caring for repairs to equipment; the most complete interlocking layout and intercommunication system ever constructed; one of the most complete passenger-equipment yards ever built; and a track system covering yards and main tracks within the passenger-terminal zone aggregating about 60 miles of single track.

The station building proper is 626 feet 10 inches long and 210 feet 9 inches wide, exclusive of the space taken up by the columns in front of the central pavilion or main portico. The front and ends are made up of groups of semicircular arches characteristic of Roman architecture. The main portico or central pavilion consists of 3 arches, each 29 feet 6 inches wide and 48 feet 9 inches high. Flanking it on either side are 7 arches, each 12 feet 4 inches wide and 24 feet 8 inches high, while the end pavilions are composed of arches 22 feet wide and 38 feet 6 inches high.

The west end is made up of 5 arches 19 feet 2 inches wide and 37 feet 7 inches high, and 1 arch 12 feet 4 inches wide and 24 feet 8 inches high. The former are used as exits for carriages from the carriage porch, the latter to carry out the open portico treatment across the front. At the east end leading to the open portico are 2 windows with arch treatment, and there are 5 arches 12 feet 6 inches wide and 24 feet 8 inches high, 1 arch 22 feet wide and 38 feet 6 inches high, leading to a carriage pavilion.

The east pavilion leads to a suite of rooms for the use of the President and the guests of the Nation, the west pavilion to the carriage porch at the west end of the ticket lobby. The central and end pavilions are connected by a portico or loggia from 14 feet 6 inches to 16 feet 6 inches wide, the portico and pavilions forming a continuous covered porch the entire length of the structure, and affording protection from the elements. The east and west wings of the building are 69 feet 7¹⁄₂ inches above the floor level, and the domes over the carriage entrances are 78 feet 3¹⁄₂ inches above the same point. The dome over the main waiting room is 122 feet 10 inches high.

UNION STATION—WAITING ROOM

The concourse in the rear of the main building is 760 feet long and 130 feet wide, exceeding by nearly nine feet the length of the Capitol. It is covered by a segmental arched ceiling 45 feet high in the center and 22 feet at the springing line above the main floor. About 40 per cent of the ceiling area is of glass, the remainder is artistically coffered ornamental plaster. The concourse is divided by the usual train fence into two sections, that on the station side being 83 feet and that on the track side 47 feet wide.

There are 32 tracks leading to the station—20 on the level of the waiting rooms and 12 depressed below the street level a distance of 20 feet. Two tubes of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. and Southern Railway Co., each 16 feet wide, run from the station south along First Street between the Library of Congress and the Capitol for about a mile. At the Fountain of Neptune the tunnel is 40 feet below the surface. Approximately 285 trains enter and leave the railway station each day; the daily number of passengers is approximately 30,000.

The general waiting room has a clear width of 120 feet, is 219 feet long, exclusive of the colonnades, and is covered by a Roman barrel-vaulted ceiling, its highest point, exclusive of coffers, being 96 feet above the floor level. The decorations are sunken panels patterned after the baths of Diocletian. It is lighted by a semicircular window 72¹⁄₂ feet in diameter at the east end, by three semicircular windows in the south side and five on the north side, each 27¹⁄₂ feet in diameter, and by the glass roof over the ticket lobby at the west end. Imperial Rome at her greatest did not possess a hall of such proportions.

The Union Station is built of Vermont white granite. In the construction of this massive building Mr. Burnham set a standard for civic improvement for the construction of railroad terminals in this country.

The complete architectural treatment of the front elevation of the station includes six stone statues and four eagles, the former over the central pavilion, and the latter over the carriage entrances at the east and west ends. This statuary is placed in front of the great friezes over the main entrance arches and over the carriage archways and, with the inscriptions in the panels between, have been made a special architectural feature.

Before the adoption of the scheme a number of suggestions for the subjects of the statues and inscriptions were secured, ranging from the explorers and discoverers of this country to the various inventors who have had most to do with the development of transportation. The general architectural treatment of the building, however, was such as to preclude the usual portrait statues. To make them take their place as part of the architecture required that they be limited to allegorical draped figures, forming simple, massive silhouettes against the vast frieze. In the development of the complete scheme, embracing the subjects for the statuary, with appropriate inscriptions in the intervening panels, the late Charles W. Eliot, former president of Harvard University, was consulted. The result is an appropriate and adequate treatment of the decorative frieze over the doorway of the vestibule to the Capital of the Nation.

The general decorative features of the main entrance to the building consist of six massive stone columns, two on each side and one in front of each pier supporting the main arches. Upon pedestals on the tops of these columns the granite statues, about 18 feet high, are placed, those on the west side of the entrance representing Prometheus and Thales, typifying Fire and Electricity, those on the east side Ceres and Archimedes, typifying Agriculture and Mechanics, while Freedom and Imagination are depicted by the central figures. Those on the west side represent two of the great forces connected with the operation of railroads, while those on the east owe much of their development and wealth to the railroads. The central figures typify the atmosphere of freedom in which the inventive imagination has been able to accomplish such great results. The columns flanking the carriage entrances are surmounted by stone eagles about 8 feet high.

The following inscriptions are cut in the granite panels over the main entrance:

West (Prometheus and Thales)

FIRE—GREATEST OF DISCOVERIES
ENABLING MAN TO LIVE IN VARIOUS CLIMATES
USE MANY FOODS—AND COMPEL
THE FORCES OF NATURE TO DO HIS WORK

ELECTRICITY—CARRIER OF LIGHT AND POWER
DEVOURER OF TIME AND SPACE—BEARER
OF HUMAN SPEECH OVER LAND AND SEA
GREAT SERVANT OF MAN—ITSELF UNKNOWN

THOU HAST PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET

Central (Freedom and Imagination)

SWEETENER OF HUT AND OF HALL
BRINGER OF LIFE OUT OF NAUGHT
FREEDOM O FAIREST OF ALL
THE DAUGHTERS OF TIME AND THOUGHT

MAN’S IMAGINATION HAS CONCEIVED ALL
NUMBERS AND LETTERS—ALL TOOLS, VESSELS
AND SHELTERS—EVERY ART AND TRADE—ALL
PHILOSOPHY AND POETRY—AND ALL POLITIES

THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE

East (Ceres and Archimedes)

THE FARM—BEST HOME OF THE FAMILY—MAIN
SOURCE OF NATIONAL WEALTH—FOUNDATION OF
CIVILIZED SOCIETY—THE NATURAL PROVIDENCE

THE OLD MECHANIC ARTS—CONTROLLING NEW
FORCES—BUILD NEW HIGHWAYS FOR GOODS
AND MEN—OVERRIDE THE OCEAN—AND MAKE
THE VERY ETHER CARRY HUMAN THOUGHT

THE DESERT SHALL REJOICE AND BLOSSOM
AS THE ROSE

In the panels over the entrances to the carriage porch and state apartment the following inscriptions are cut:

Carriage Porch (south elevation)

HE THAT WOULD BRING HOME THE
WEALTH OF THE INDIES MUST CARRY
THE WEALTH OF THE INDIES WITH HIM
SO IT IS IN TRAVELLING—A MAN
MUST CARRY KNOWLEDGE WITH HIM
IF HE WOULD BRING HOME KNOWLEDGE

State Apartment (south elevation)

LET ALL THE ENDS THOU AIMEST AT BE
THY COUNTRY’S, THY GOD’S, AND TRUTH’S,
BE NOBLE, AND THE NOBLENESS THAT
LIES IN OTHER MEN—SLEEPING BUT
NEVER DEAD—WILL RISE IN MAJESTY
TO MEET THINE OWN

State Apartment (east elevation)

WELCOME THE COMING
SPEED THE PARTING GUEST

VIRTUE ALONE IS SWEET SOCIETY
IT KEEPS THE KEY TO ALL
HEROIC HEARTS AND OPENS YOU
A WELCOME IN THEM ALL

The decorations immediately in front of and along the sides of the east and west entrances consist of stone balustrades upon which at proper intervals are ornamental lamp posts.

Immediately in front of the main entrance to the Union Station there are three ornamental iron flagstaffs 110 feet in height, the ornamental base and decorative portions of which are in bronze. These were designed by D. H. Burnham & Co., architects of the Union Station.

Since the completion of the Union Station in 1908 there have also been placed on the Plaza the Columbus Memorial Fountain in front of the main entrance, and two large fountains, one on each side of the memorial.

All stone used in the decoration of the Plaza, except that in the bowls of the fountains, is Vermont white granite, from the same quarry as that used in the station building. The fountain bowls are of Maine green granite. The upper bowls are 13 feet in diameter and cut from a single piece of stone; the lower bowls are 22 feet 6 inches in diameter, the rims being made from eight separate pieces of granite. The bottoms of these bowls are of reinforced concrete and are lined with sheet lead.