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(rshsdepot) King Street Station - Seattle, WA

From today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/

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King Street Station on track to return to one-time splendor
Seattle Post Intelligencer


By JANE HADLEY
For close to half a century, Seattle`s skyline was dominated by two towers: 
Smith Tower and the red brick clock tower of the 1906 King Street Station, 
an imitation of a famous tower in Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy.Inside 
the station, a grand two-story waiting room sported fluted pilasters, 
polished marble wainscoting and elaborate plaster ornamental wall panels of 
garlands and cornucopias.
The cream-colored ceiling was bordered with plaster medallions. Mosaic tiles 
covered the floor.
But as the 1950s and 1960s arrived, the railroads that owned the station 
decided to ``modernize`` it.
``By today`s standards, we think they engaged in destruction,`` says Lloyd 
Flem, executive director of the Washington Association of Rail Passengers.
The ornamental wall plaster was planed down, windows were boarded up, metal 
doors replaced wood doors. Worst of all, a low, dark false ceiling was 
installed.
Outside, microwave antennas were placed on the clock tower. The terra cotta 
roof was replaced with asphalt composition roofing.
``Why would they remove a terra-cotta roof which lasts for 100 years?`` 
exclaims Peter Watson, project manager for Otak, an architectural firm 
working on renovating the station with developer Nitze-Stagen.
The state Department of Transportation, using Amtrak and federal money, is 
leading the effort to undo the damage of the ``modernization`` and clean up 
the dreary and long-neglected station.
The redo, which has been talked about for years, coincides with a resurgence 
of passenger rail service.
The $16.8 million renovation -- already under way and planned to be 
completed by early next year -- is just the start on a path to future 
prominence for the station, officials hope.
The remodel will bring back the 1906 ceiling and other ornamentation and the 
wood doors. It also will provide new windows, an expanded waiting room, and 
new ticketing, restroom and baggage facilities. There will be new heating 
and ventilation systems, along with earthquake protections.
Outside, the building will get new canopies and a new roof -- terra cotta. 
The clock will be repaired. The microwave antennae will go. An incompatible 
1950s addition on the west side will be removed. The dirty building will be 
cleaned inside and out, Watson says.
Passengers waiting for trains at the station last week were positive about 
the renovation.
Rosemary Agostini, a Seattle doctor who planned to study for an exam on the 
train to Portland, said she had peeked at the original ceiling visible along 
the edges of the false ceiling.
``I love it when they do renovations,`` she said. ``I think it`s really, 
really good. I`ve traveled a lot in Europe. They have beautiful stations 
there. It`s nice when people from there traveling here are able to see 
something that has some character and not just square ugliness.``
Marci Robison of Portland gave a thumbs up to the clean-smelling, renovated 
bathroom. ``I was pleasantly surprised,`` she said.
Decades ago, the nation`s freight railroads exited the passenger rail 
business and didn`t see much reason to spend money on passenger terminals 
such as the King Street Station, which is owned by Burlington Northern Santa 
Fe Railroad.
``For 60 or 70 years, governments at all levels put virtually all their 
investments into highways and airports,`` says Flem.
But he says things turned around when highways became more congested, 
airports became more of a hassle, and people began traveling more to Japan 
and Europe, where they saw and experienced thriving rail service.
``People are tired of driving all the time,`` says Ron Sheck, urban rail 
manager for the state Department of Transportation, which is in charge of 
the King Street Station renovation.
Amtrak`s Cascades route between Portland and Seattle was operating one daily 
train in 1993 with 94,000 passengers a year. The state decided to start 
spending on rail and added a second daily round trip the next year, nearly 
doubling ridership to 180,000.
The state has continued to gradually ramp up service, says Kirk 
Frederickson, rail planning coordinator for the state. It has added trains 
and also extended service north to Bellingham and Vancouver, B.C. The state 
of Oregon has extended service from Portland to Eugene.
Last year saw 603,000 passengers on the Eugene to Vancouver, B.C., Cascades 
service -- more than six times what ridership on the Cascades service was in 
1993.
The station also serves two Amtrak long-distance routes and Sound Transit`s 
Sounder commuter service.
``The mayor`s strategy is for (the King Street Station) to be perhaps the 
busiest of our three center city intermodal hubs,`` says Joan McCallion of 
the city`s Department of Transportation. The other two are Colman Dock and 
Westlake Center.
The Seattle Monorail Project plans to put one of its stations next to King 
Street Station. The city is hoping that Greyhound will relocate there, says 
McCallion.
Taxis line up there. A Sound Transit light rail station is a block away. The 
city would like to explore moving a bike station to the rail station.
In the longer term, the city and others would like to see development on the 
north parking lot of Qwest Field just southwest of the rail station.
The city and state would also like to see renovation and activity in the 
vacant top two floors of the King Street Station, once used for railroad 
office and crew space.
Flem says he`d like to see high-end office space and a good restaurant, as 
has happened at Portland`s restored Union Station.
``Plans are being developed for future use of the property,`` said 
Burlington spokesman Gus Melonas, declining to elaborate.
Until the renovation started, the King Street Station was dark, dirty, often 
mostly empty.
``It just slowly got grubbier and less attractive to the point that, 
frankly, most rail advocates were a little ashamed of it the last few years 
compared to the beautiful restoration of Portland Union Station,`` says 
Flem.
He`s convinced the remodel will attract more passengers.
``It really does make a difference,`` he says. ``People do respond to 
something that`s aesthetically pleasing.`` 

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

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1158
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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org