Union Station
- Architect
- Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Albany, NY
Union Station, on the corner of Broadway and Steuben Street, was built in 1899–1900 to serve as Albany's railroad station, designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge — successors to the firm of H.H. Richardson and designers of Boston's South Station. At its peak it handled 96 trains a day in 1900 and 121 a day during World War II, remaining the Capital District's main rail depot until December 1968, when service shifted across the river to the new Rensselaer Rail Station. The building now houses credit union offices.
the building
A Beaux-Arts civic gateway. The station's Beaux-Arts facade was built for a railroad — New York Central's passenger trains, along with Delaware & Hudson service — that made it, in the words of its own landmark application, perhaps no building so important to twentieth-century Albany's growth.
the style
Union Station was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, the firm that succeeded H.H. Richardson's practice and had just completed South Station in Boston, lending Albany's rail gateway the same grand civic monumentality.
More on Beaux-Artsthe architect
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was the successor firm to H.H. Richardson's practice; besides Union Station the firm designed South Station in Boston, newly completed at the time.
significance
Union Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. It served as the Capital District's principal railroad station until December 1968, when passenger service moved to the newly built Rensselaer Rail Station.
nearby
- St. Mary's Church
- Old Post Office
- New York Court of Appeals Building
- St. Peter's Episcopal Church
- Albany City Hall
- Palace Theatre