King Street Station, post-restoration, in Seattle, Washington, USA. King Street Station was built in 1906 and designed by the architectural firm of Reed and Stern. It served the Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railway. The depot features a 242-foot (74 m) clock tower modeled after the Campanile di San Marco in Venice, Italy. It was the tallest building in Seattle at the time of its construction, and the second-largest timepiece on the West Coast (the Ferry Building in San Francisco, California, had a larger clock). The L-shaped building features a steel frame and red brick masonry walls covered in granite on the first floor and terra cotta and cast stone (a concrete-like mixture) on the second. The architectural style is Railroad Italinate, although the exterior shows Beaux Arts elements. The longest side of the building faces east toward the rail lines and 4th Street S., with the ell projecting westward from the south end of the building. The clock tower rises from the intersection of the two parts of the building. Passengers originally entered on the east side of the north end of the structure, and mounted a grand staircase. Below the clock tower (which was tucked against the interior joint of the L). was the Compass Room, an area named for the compass rose design laid in hand-cut marble tile on the floor. The Compass Room and the Waiting Hall to the north had marble wainscotting, above which was a band of inlaid green iridescent glass tile. The Compass Room and Waiting Hall were lit by triple-globe wall sconces, with the Compass Room also featuring a a multi-globe bronze chandelier and four smaller, four-globe suspended lighting fixutres. Circular clerestory windows high above (on which would be the third floor) provided natural lighting during daylight hours. The 45-foot high ceiling was a coffered grid of white plaster, featuring dentils and a repetitive circle motif. Above the Waiting Hall and the western ell extension were two floors of offices, each of which had an arcade-like balcony overlooking the Compass Room. The interior featured white plaster walls and fluted Corinthian columns. The lower part of the walls and columns were sheathed in white marble accented with glass mosaic tiles in white, green, red, and gold. Except for the Compass Room, floor was made of terrazzo inlaid with square mosaic tiles in rectangular patterns. As inter-city rail traffic collapsed in the United States after World War II, the original drop-off entrance on Jackson Street was closed. A new entrance, through a dumpy little portal covered by a rusting sheet-iron eave, was added in the 1950s in the southwest corner of the building. In 1965, ceiling in the Compas Room and Waiting Room was covered with a 10-foot drop-ceiling of pale green asbestos acoustic tile. The Waiting Room was walled off, the marble and mosaics were stripped from the columns, and all ornamental plaster chiseled from the walls up to the height of the new dropped ceiling. The grand staircase was reduced in width by half, and a cheap, bland concrete addition housing escalators was added on the north end. The bronze chandeliers and wall sconces were replaced with fluorescent lights, and the terrazzo floor was allowed to significantly deteriorate. In 2010, as part of President Obamas American Recovery Act, the Seattle Department of Transportation received a $10 million grant to begin renovation of the King Street Station. The city and state put in another $45 million. The $55 million renovation, designed and oveerseen by ZGF Architects, was completed in 2013. The interior was completely restored to its 1906 glory (this consumed just 13 percent of the projects budget). Earthquake stabilization upgrades, the removal of the escalator addition, and reworking and expansion of the gates and passenger platforms expanded ticketing, radically improved security, and allowed expansion of the stations ability to serve Amtrak and commuter rail lines without increasing the stations physical footprint. The adjacent parking lot was removed and a new public plaza installed to connect King Street Station to nearby Pioneer Square (the historic center of Seattle).
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:02:59 +0000
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