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It is one busiest and best-known places in of Washington DC, visited by 20 million people each year. The terminal is served by Amtrak, commuter railroads, and the Washington Metro transit system.
When the Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio Railroads announced in 1901 that they planned to build a new terminal, people in the city celebrated for two reasons. The decision meant, first of all, that the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) would soon remove its tracks and terminal from the Mall. Though changes there appeared only gradually, the PRR's move allowed the creation of the Mall as it appears today. Second, the plans to bring all the city's railroads under one roof promised that Washington would finally have a station large enough to handle large crowds and impressive enough to reflect the Capital's role.
Architect Daniel Burnham, assisted by Peirce Anderson , used a number of techniques to convey this message: neoclassical elements combined the Roman architecture of the triumphal arch with the great vaulted spaces of Imperial Roman public baths, such as the Baths of Diocletian in Rome; prominent siting at the intersection of two of Pierre L'Enfant's avenues, with an orientation that faced the United States Capitol, just five blocks away; a massive scale, including a facade stretching more than 600' and a waiting room ceiling 96' above the floor; expensive materials such as marble, gold leaf, and white granite from a previously unused quarry. 320px USGSThe United States Geological Survey or USGS is a scientific agency of the U. government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. Founded on March 3, 1879, it is satellite image of Union Station, taken April 26, 2002, reveals the complicated network of tracks descending into the station from the northeast. The large building to the left of Union Station is the National Postal MuseumThe National Postal Museum in Washington, D. is located across the street from Union Station and houses many interactive displays about the history of the United States Postal Service and of mail service around the world. Also on display is a vast collect; to the right is the Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall ( July 2, 1908 January 24, 1993) was the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was known for his liberal and pro- Civil rights positions. He served on the court from 1967 until 1991, when he retired Judiciary Center. Above the main cornice of the central block stand colossal statues designed by Augustus Saint-GaudensAugustus Saint-Gaudens (Dublin, March 1, 1848 Cornish, New Hampshire, August 3, 1907), was the Irish-French American sculptor of the Beaux Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the " American Renaissance. Raised in New York, he was apprenticed t whose iconography expresses the confident enthusiasm of the " American RenaissanceFor the white nationalist magazine, see American Renaissance (magazine). The American Renaissance was the progressive and uplifting sense of self-confidence that Americans had in the period ca 1880 1914, a feeling that the United States was the heir to Gr" movement: Fire, Electricity, Freedom, Imagination, Agriculture and Mechanics. The substitution of Agriculture for Commerce in a railroad station iconography vividly conveys the power of a specifically American lobbying bloc.
Burnham drew upon a well-developed tradition of treating the entrance to a major railroad terminal as a triumphal arch, a tradition that had been initiated in London at Euston Station. He linked the monumental end pavilions with long arcades enclosing loggiaVilla Godi by Palladio. A loggia is the focal point in place of a portico in the centre, and used again each side of the structure as a corridor. Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Italian design, which is often a gallerys in a long series of bays that were vaulted with the lightweight fireproof Guastavino tile s favored by American Beaux-ArtsBeaux Arts was an architectural style that was popular in the early twentieth century. The name comes from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where this style was practised. The emphasis was towards producing quick sketch schemes involving beautiful drawin architects. The final aspect owed a great deal to the Court of Honor at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, where Burnham had been coordinating architect. The setting of Union Station's facade at the focus of converging avenues in a park-like green setting is one of the few executed achievements of the " City Beautiful" movement: elite city planning that was based on the "goosefoot" (patte d'oie) of formal garden plans made by Baroque designers like André Le Notre. The radiating avenues can been seen in the satellite view (illustration, left).
The architectural critics detested the imperial bombast of the Beaux-Arts style in all its manifestations.
Within the station was a full range of dining rooms and other services, including barber shops and a mortuary. Union Station was equipped with a presidential suite (now occupied by a restaurant) that was prompted by the recent assassinations of Presidents Garfield and McKinley. Garfield had actually been shot at Washington's Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station July 2, 1881, while he waited for a train.