The concourse at Union Station has been cleared of its intrusive shops, and has returned to an appearance that is closer to its heyday.
A Blog detailing the beauty of St. Louis architecture and the buildup of residue-or character-that accumulates over the course of time.
The concourse at Union Station has been cleared of its intrusive shops, and has returned to an appearance that is closer to its heyday.
As someone who enjoyed Union Station as a mall back in its heyday, as an adult who is interested in historical preservation, I am pleased LHM is reversing back to the original!
I can almost hear “Aaall aboooooard!”
Is it finished? That south side looks kinda crappy…
why on earth someone thought building a mall instead was beyond me. I guess at that time, adaptive reuse was the thing to do.
Personally, I’ve always thought this would have been better keeping it as a train station instead of that *thing* they built under the highway. the infrastructure was already there! Why not keep it as a train station. Not like we don’t have a metro link station right there? Not that we don’t have enough parking…right there. Not that we don’t have a hotel…right there.
Well, someone obviously wasn’t thinking and though that Scottrade was a better location…for what I don’ know. Could have been internal politics at City hall or whatever…it doesn’t matter now. That thing under the highway is there for good, i’m afraid.
When and If we ever get that Hi-speed rail line to Chicago, they’re going to wish they had a much nicer place to house the trains than the MMTH under the highway.
If St. Louis taxpayers wanted to pay for the stations upkeep and utilities I’m sure it would have been kept as a train station. Thing is the building is worth a lot more as something else. Perhaps someday people will want to take trains again.
And considering the current owners are converting the train shed into an aquarium, it will be a very long time before Union Station functions as a fully operating train facility again.