Architecture of Train Stations

Abstract

Railroad station architecture reflects several disparate concerns. Born of the new technology of steam power, railroads (“railways” in British parlance) revolutionized travel and affected passengers’ sense of time and distance. Combined with the unfamiliar mechanical vibration of engine, wheels, and rails, the great speed of trains—up to 30 miles per hour in the early years—made train travel psychologically stressful. The passenger station needed to present a familiar and reassuring face, and architectural styles were chosen to suggest stability and safety, and perhaps adventure as well. At the same time, the large station acted as a crowd control device, guiding arriving and departing passengers past each other while providing for the efficient handling of luggage and freight. The most provocative literature on railroad architecture treats the station as the gateway to this new set of experiences—as symbol of modernity, as an influence on the form and development of cities, and as the birthplace of corporate identity programs. Railroad stations partook of the revivalist styles of their day while in active dialogue with the engineering structures to which stations were largely subordinate from the railroad companies’ perspective. In the twentieth century, railroad station design provided important lessons for the architects of bus depots and airports. As those transportation systems matured, passenger railroading declined, at least in the United States. Publications of the time reflect interest in historic preservation and the adaptive reuse of railroad stations in the 1970s and beyond.