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(rshsdepot) Hoboken, NJ
From today's Star-Ledger.
Bernie Wagenblast
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Timeless treasure
The new Hoboken Terminal clock restores a familiar waterfront sight and
heralds more changes to come
Monday, December 03, 2007
BY RUSSELL BEN-ALI
Star-Ledger Staff
For a century, the Hoboken Terminal has been a transfer point for harried
commuters rushing to make daily train, boat and bus connections.
But with the luster off its 1907 Beaux Arts design, the run-down terminal
looked out of place amid the bustling and booming Hudson River waterfront.
For several years, NJ Transit and Hoboken city officials have been renovating
the building and dreaming of adding things like retail shops, a museum and
more.
The work is now visible from afar after a $5million-replica of the terminal's
original clock was placed on its newly renovated, 203-foot tower last month.
The gleaming copper crown sits atop what many hope will be a special project
worthy of the Gold Coast.
The 30,600-pound clock and the tower are part of the terminal's
$115million-restoration which, when complete, could make the terminal a place where
commuters want to pass their time, not just pass through.
"They wanted to make the Hoboken Terminal more of a destination," said Chris
Mezzina, project engineer for Tishman Construction, manager of the first two
phases of the terminal's restoration project. "That way people would come and
see the clock or see the Hoboken Terminal rather than just transfer trains
here."
The terminal, which serves about 40,000 daily commuters, was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The clock tower designed by artist Kenneth Murchison was part of the original
terminal built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in 1907. The
clock was removed, sometime around 1950 or earlier, due to storm damage.
The replica tower is adorned with 4-foot-tall, backlit letters spelling
"LACKAWANNA" on all four sides. It will eventually be topped with a belfry and
steeple.
The clock and tower lighting relies on fiber optic technology, making bulb
changes unnecessary, said Randy Doliber, vice president of Tishman Construction
Corp. of New Jersey.
Building a replica true to the original can be difficult. Restorers often
must rely on old photos, but in Hoboken, documentation was extensive, said Barry
Antle of Campbellsville Industries Inc.
"If the historical society hadn't kept all these old blueprints and pictures
and records, it would have been very difficult for us," Antle said. The new
clock took several months to build, he said.
Workers first had to dismantle a steel-frame, antenna-like radio tower that
replaced the original clock but contained none of the its architectural
splendor.
NJ Transit, which owns the century-old terminal, commissioned a replica of
the old four-faced clock tower as part of a project to restore the terminal to
its original design.
"We have a master planner designated to look at the entire Hoboken Terminal
and yard complex to see what is possible there," said Dan Stessel, a transit
spokesman. He called the area "one of the last underdeveloped properties along
the Hudson waterfront" and said the agency is trying to see how it could
benefit customers and the local community there.
The first phase included restoration of the rail building's five-story
waiting room with a stained-glass skylight created by Tiffany.
The second phase, which should be completed next year, includes the clock and
raising the ferry building's concrete floor by 3 feet to avoid flooding.
The terminal's slips have been out of operation since 1967. NY Waterway
operates Manhattan- and Hoboken-bound ferries from temporary docks on the
southern end of the terminal.
A third phase will build restrooms, install ferry gangways and basically get
the terminal ready for active ferry service, Stessel said. That work is
expected to begin next year and take about a year to complete.
"I'm glad they decided to restore it; why ruin old stuff when it's still
good?" asked Ann Greten of Weehawken, who parked near the terminal recently to
grab some lunch with her cousin.
"I'm a preschool teacher here in Hoboken, and we've taken the kids in the
terminal and they've seen the train exhibits there," said Greten's cousin,
Raffaella Tarabokija, 56, a Hoboken native and current resident. "We try to let
them see what was in Hoboken before they were born."
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railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1637
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org