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When people think of a train station, they may think of those little wooden houses right next to the rail-road of the olden days. This train station, however, is nothing like that. The architect named Daniel Burnham decided to take a whole new approach, and decided to combine the triumphal arch and the public bath typologies to obtain a classical and meaningful image. This helped to fix the crucial interior circulation problems, which could arise. The triumphal arches were the gateways of Rome and bath complexes accommodated huge crowds, which were constantly on the move. In addition, there are six Ionic columns, which break forward to provide bases for 18-foot-tall allegorical figures designed by Louis Saint-Gaudens. These columns represented Fire, Electricity, Freedom, Imagination, Agriculture, and Mechanics.
Bibliography: 1. Scott, Pamela, Lee, Antoinette J., Society of Architectural Historians: Buildings of the United States: Buildings of the District of Columbia, New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993
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Station was designed to represent the culmination of the emblematic program introduced at
the Capitol during the 1820's when the push westward was seen to be America's industrial
destiny. Railroads were located all throughout America and the recognition of this, as
well, as their contribution to the country's great growth accounted for the architectural
importance. In the Stations five-part organization, Burnham established a type of
hierarchy with the central portals dominating and the side arcades and end pavilions
subordinate in scale, sculptural plasticity, and decorative elaboration's. These orderings
gave clear spatial organization and a sense of compactness to a large scale. The 626-foot
extent of the facade's continuous vaulted loggia, which funnels people into the main or
end, doors. All throughout the building, the arcuated and trabeated styles of construction
are interwoven, with a central theme of Roman architecture which then is passed on to the
Renaissance.