[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

Re: (rshsdepot) Hoboken Terminal (Hoboken, NJ)

Now I know some of you ignore me as an unknowing Philistine (please at least
use unknowing Pict or unknowing Yani, please!), but I really must know...

The ferry concourse at DL&W Hoboken terminal. is a very impressive, historic
and noteworthy space.

Many is a time I have taking a tourist, a friend visiting this area for the
first time... I take them to Hoboken, gone to the magnificent Hoboken
terminal. The green copper Victorian outside is very impressive. This may be
the only or at least the best remaining example of this style.

The only other ferry architecture of the turn of the century styling in the
NY harbor is the Whitehall Ferry slips to  the north of Staten island ferry
terminal.
Yes, there is still the earlier CNJ at Communipaw, but the ferry slips are
gone. It is historical preservation with the main element of the train
station missing...

The Hoboken terminal is the oldest still used terminal, still used by an
arriving train. still used by passengers. A fin-de-siecle still essential
railroad station still in use, 100 years soon, still serving the populace,
the commuters.

The only other one still in NY, also in need of arriving inter-city
passenger trains, is GCT

Brooklyn is gone, Penn Station in Manhattan, is that still there! Erie at
Pavonia gone. CNJ a interactive museum..
Yes; so I take the visitors to DLW Hoboken, and they see the outside,
approached from the street, even if you take the PATH which you can exit to
the track area....That it is a working railroad station, they finally
replaced the turn of the twentieth century, with mid century additions, sign
boards and track number signs, know they possibly regret that...The
neglected elegance was still there in the seventies, and god knows what they
did to it when they replaced with the standard signs and boards...


And the concourse of the station for the ferries..

THE SECOND LARGEST SUCH SPACE ONLY SUPPORTED AT THE ENDS, THE LONGEST: THE
HALL AT VERSAISE.

This is an amazing space; I love it where the east end has fancy wood and
gold raised letters at the gate (I always imagined this was o film Funny
Girl, being a romantic--this may not be so...

But if you go up there via the grand stairs inside from the now cleaned up
and waiting room, with the stained glass skylight, that back with the
ancient signs, had still been blacked out...


I do hope that this talk of new terminals, if this new rebirth of the old
ferry slips, the dangling and missing old walkways from the ferry, that this
will be used again.....but not as a car ferry, so I guess different slips,
perhaps the new station will not even need or use the concourse area, maybe
they will spare it...


But ill they chop into it, destroy it....Just because it is not as ornate
(any more?) inside, will they still see that this section is a landmark as
well, and an amazing visual area..


I have imagined it fixed up. what it looked like without the lack of much
light and grimy surroundings.....I never got a good picture of this space, a
flash is useless and real light has so much contrast.......
So are they fixing that area up to use, or are they knocking it down? Are
they saving and enhancing the unique architecture or altering and destroying
it???

I will now look at the pictures and see that it shows what I am asking
about!

Pray tell....
Paul




- -----Original Message-----
From: Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>
To: Rail Depot List <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Date: Sunday, May 19, 2002 7:13 AM
Subject: (rshsdepot) Hoboken Terminal (Hoboken, NJ)


Links:
http://www.mrce.com/pages/projects/93-3.shtml  (information & photos)
http://www.jhpokorny.com/pastjobs/erielack.html  (information & photos)
http://www.hbrownstone.com/images/rr_station.jpg  (historic photo)
http://www.hobokenmuseum.org/activities_&_events/walking%20tour/95071.jpg
(historic photo)
http://www.watermusicrecorders.com/images/ferry.JPG
http://www.vintagepostcards.com/catalog/i/i4803.jpg  (historic French
postcard)

Hoboken Terminal to rehab ferry slips


05/17/02

By Jason Fink
Jersey Journal staff writer

P.A. kicking in $8M to upgrade transit ties


Commuter upgrades for Hoboken Terminal




HOBOKEN - The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and NJ Transit
agreed Wednesday to restore six ferry slips at the hulking Erie-Lackawanna
terminal, a move that will likely double the volume of marine traffic and be
another step in the ongoing rehabilitation of the century-old building.

The Port Authority, the bi- state agency that runs the PATH system out of
the terminal building, committed to pay an initial $8 million of the $65
million it is expected to cost to fully renovate the old slips and construct
new tickets booths.

It has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the costs
of the project because it is primarily a response to the September attacks
on the World Trade Center, which knocked out PATH service to Lower
Manhattan.

"Since Sept. 11 . . . other forms of transportation have been destroyed,"
Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said. "We're paying for it and hoping
to get reimbursed."

The first $8 million will pay for design of the new slips, with the rest
going toward construction.

NJ Transit owns the terminal and operates commuter trains out of the
station.

When the work is complete, NY Waterway, the Weehawken-based company that
operates most commuter ferries in the region, will provide service,
according to company spokesman Pat Smith.

"Restoration of the ferry slips at Hoboken Terminal is one of the long-range
strategic plans to increase trans-Hudson capacity and enhance New Jersey's
travel options while supporting the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan," Gov.
James E. McGreevey said in a written statement.

NY Waterway, which has added 20 boats to its fleet and carries twice as many
passengers daily as it did before Sept. 11, now runs two routes from
temporary slips near the terminal.

The company said it could carry double the roughly 13,000 passengers it now
takes during the morning peak period between Hoboken and Manhattan.

"The key is how many people who come in on bus and rail want to get on the
ferry," Smith said.

Just last week, it was reported that the city also is in discussions with a
major cruise line about using the terminal as its home base.

Under the plan announced Wednesday, a portion of the terminal would have to
be reconstructed to accommodate ticket offices and the building of exterior
walls. NJ Transit officials also list restoring the roof and Tiffany
skylights and copper on the building's facade as part of the plan, but it is
unclear whether those changes would merely be cosmetic.

The ground-floor waiting area of the 96-year old terminal has been restored
and officials are hoping the spacious second-floor, which is plagued by
peeling paint, crumbling interiors and decades of general neglect, is next
on the list for improvements.

One plan, advocated by Hoboken Mayor David Roberts, envisions retail shops
and restaurants in and around the building. In that scenario, businesses
would pay for large parts of the restoration.


=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org


=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

------------------------------