Lancaster's Amtrak Train Station is an architectural gem. Built in 1929, it is a familiar and dignified landmark in the city of Lancaster, PA.
Its Art Deco marble interior is reminiscent, on a small scale, of Grand Central Station in New York City. Lancaster is the third busiest train station in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
The main lobby features a soaring ceiling with art deco lighting fixtures and a magnificent glass paned ceiling insert.
Over the past decade, restoration has been ongoing, including painting and improvements to the heating system.
The building will now be air conditioned. Shops and restaurants will be built, and the parking lot enlarged.
Ridership at the Amtrak Station is up 17% just since May due to the increased cost of driving!
The current $12 Million renovation is scheduled to be completed by June of 2010.
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Brian,
Beautiful photos.
I've never seen such a palatial train station! I love the architectural features of the interior. I'm glad to see more people taking the train now that gas prices are so high...
Jo
Jo,
As a former New Yorker, I was familiar with commuter trains and Grand Central Station, the grandest railroad station in the United States. Lancaster's train station is very reminiscent of Grand Central's marble style, although on a considerably smaller scale.
The station is part of one of the largest historic districts in PA. Lancaster was the capitol of Pennsylvania between 1799 and 1812, and was actually the capitol of the whole nation for one day in 1812! The government in Washington DC was forced to escape from the British invasion, and stayed in Lancaster on their way to New York.
Brian
Brian, What lovely pictures of this historic station, I am glad to hear they're going to restore it. Our train station is also very old but small--I always worry they will knock it down instread of restoring it as well.
Carole, I hope enough people in your area try to preserve your train station. If it's small, maybe restoring it could be done without exorbitant expense.
Brian - That is a building well worth renovating and the economic return should be good. With high gas price the train station will be very busy place. Nice shots.
Thanks, Jennifer. If you look at the second photo, you can see where repairs in the upper walls and ceiling are still needed, but quite a lot of work has been done already. It's really quite a nice station for a city of our size.
Brian, What a beautiful building I doubt if there any stations that would be as nice. They don't make them like they use to.
Don, they sure don't make them like they used to! I'm glad the city is interested in preserving and restoring this fine station.
I'm working on an animation and am going to use the train station as reference for a main part of it. These pictures definintely are helping me with points of views that I didn't get when I was there. Even though I drive past the thing everyday. I do hate that new contraption they added for parking...looks horrible with the old style building.
Daniel, I can't understand what they were thinking either when they added that addition - totally out of character with the rest of the building.