Saint Louis Union Station

Saint Louis Union Station

The Saint Louis Union Station (Figure 1), located on Market Street between the 18th Street and the 20th Street in downtown Saint Louis, was built in 1894 to be used as a train shed and transportation for travelers. This enabled the travelers to get around whether it is around St. Louis, around the United States, and even into Canada. The architect of the St. Louis Union Station is a German-American man named Theodore C. Link after he had won the design competition for the need of building a bigger and better train station. The original owner who pushed for the building of this bigger train station is William Taussig. William Taussig wanted a big and grandeur train station that would rival against the bigger train stations such as those that was in New York or Chicago. St. Louis Union Station could have up to 18 trains at once inside the train station ready to go to other places (Figure 2). There were 32 train tracks outside of the train shed so there was lot of traffic and passengers that would come into the Union Station every day. However, as more technically innovations occurred such as airplanes, trains going around the country were being used less by the people who opted to travel in different ways. This led to the demise of train services at the Union Station with the last train pulling out of the Union Station on October 31, 1978. The St. Louis Union Station then fell into a state of disuse and disrepair until 1985 when plans for renovations occurred costing up to a total of $150 million dollars. After a much needed repair and restoration on construction of the structural integrity of the building along with the restoration of the decorations, both interior and exterior wise, by artisans and craftsmen, the St. Louis Union Station is now a bustling building fully of shops, restaurants, small amusements, and it also includes a grand hotel by the name of Hyatt Regency Hotel.

The architecture of St. Louis Union Station is an eclectic mix of Romanesque styles. The Station's interior and exterior details are a combination of both Richardsonian Romanesque tradition and French Romanesque or Norman style. The architect, Theodore Link, modeled the Union Station after Carcassone, a walled, medieval city in southern France. The Union Station, in general, has three section: the East Pavilion with its 230 feet clock tower, the Central Pavilion with the principal entrances, and the hotel block on the west end. The exterior side of the building is faced with Bedford limestone on the Market Street and the 18th Street sides while the south and west walls are of gray brick above the roof and of Roman brick below the roof of the train shed. Originally the roof was covered with grey Spanish tiles to match the limestone but in 1956, the roof was replaced with red tiles.

The eastern pavilion is massive and square with its tall peaked steep sloping roof. The northwest corner extends vertically into a 230 feet clock tower which was essential for train stations. There is a slightly