News   Mar 28, 2024
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Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell To The Wrecking Ball

there's no delay when it comes to getting rid of nice looking things.
 
At least Toronto is keeping its Union Station, not like those other cities.



Before the current Union Station, there was an earlier one (from this link):
Before the current structure, an earlier Union Station was built in 1872 on Front Street between York and Simcoe Streets. The front of the old station was completed in 1895 and contained ticket offices, waiting rooms and railway offices. It was designed by E. P. Hannaford, Chief Engineer of the Grand Trunk Railway. The station was modelled on the Illinois Central Station in Chicago and had three domed towers, one containing a clock. In its time, the previous Union Station was considered to be one of the most modern and handsome stations on the continent. Its tall silhouette was a noted feature of the turn-of-the-century Toronto skyline.

Even though this station almost doubled the previous station in size, demands for an even larger station came soon after the completion. By 1911, the station handled some 40,000 passengers on more than 130 trains daily. The trainsheds were demolished in 1927 and 1928, and the station was torn down in 1931, four years after the present facility was officially opened.
 
Thankfully Buffalo and Detroit haven't expired yet (though they're definitely in the wrecking ball's shadow).

Chicago is a sad situation because they had almost as many terminal stations as London. Unfortunately, you can't save them all.
 
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Other than Penn in New York and the Rochester Station (which had a wonderful vaulted interior) the rest of these buildings look like Beaux Arts hackwork to me. Anything with columns stuck on it seems to get the nod from our American cousins.
 
Other than Penn in New York and the Rochester Station (which had a wonderful vaulted interior) the rest of these buildings look like Beaux Arts hackwork to me. Anything with columns stuck on it seems to get the nod from our American cousins.

Though it isn't like we *wouldn't* give them the nod, either.

Besides, it's a stretch to describe the Richardsonian Romanesque of Chicago Central as "Beaux Arts hackwork".

But yeah, there's a bit of an overwrought callowness to the piece. (Or maybe it's all too easy for me to see co-authors named "Yonah" and "Jebediah" as true hippie kids of the 1970s.)
 
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Buffalo is actually not under threat anymore. It's been bought by the local preservation society, which has sealed it from the elements and now uses it occasionally for special events. They're still trying to figure out a permanent use for it.
 
Buffalo is actually not under threat anymore. It's been bought by the local preservation society, which has sealed it from the elements and now uses it occasionally for special events. They're still trying to figure out a permanent use for it.

I need to get there to see this place, so many photos online and here at UT as well..
 
You definitely do. I'd go when they have an event, which are quite frequent. I think Doors Open Buffalo has passed, but they also have periodic tours. Buffalo is a very different place from Detroit. Despite its poverty, it has a great deal of civic pride. It's pretty amazing to think that a volunteer group has bought and sealed this huge building. It's inconceivable that the same thing could happen in Detroit.

I'm so glad I got to go into Michigan Central before it gets demolished. What an absolutely ridiculous plan. Why not use the stimulus money to restore the building rather than demolish it. Rather than those hideous concrete things by a highway onramp, it would have been the perfect casino. The big tower could have been the hotel, and the casino could have been down in the magnificent waiting room. It would have been the most impressive casino this side of Monte Carlo.

edit: Here's the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation's website. A few years back they sealed up all the broken windows and also restored the building's tower clock, which is now lit and functioning.
 
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Rather than those hideous concrete things by a highway onramp, it would have been the perfect casino.

I thought the exact same thing the last time I was in Detroit... what a shame!
 

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