The More I Think About It . . .

Late post today. We were out last night at opening night of our Shakespeare In The Park festival. Great production of Henry IV (they're doing Henry V, too) but it was so cold that we left at intermission. When we got home I started to prepare this but fell asleep over my laptop. It gets harder to keep the batteries charged, doesn't it? 

This is more of the light show in Union Station. The good news is that it's likely to pull people in and spend some money. The shopping/dining area under the train shed adjacent to the main building has been a flop. Not enough traffic. it was never enough to be a destination. Most of the original tenants left and what remains is tawdry. The display on the barrel vault might help.

On the other hand, it wrecks the grandeur of the space. If you look at the link in yesterday's post, you see something nearly perfect. The red chairs and elegant club-head lamps are gone. The new seating is gray. There is a column at each end of the hall holding light projectors. They often block the view of the ends of the barrel vault, so beautiful in their symmetry. For comparison, think about the effect of such a show in other grand interior spaces, like the dome of the U. S. Capitol or inside the spiral of the Guggenheim Museum.

So money and mass taste win again, but without the money the building would never have been restored in the first place.
                               

Light Show

Take a look at this post about Union Station from three years ago. Just a stunning space. The hotel got a new owner a couple of years ago that made another large investment in the property. The Great Hall has been redecorated - not for the better IMHO - with a big, unexpected addition. For 4 or 5 minutes at every hour a light show is projected onto the barrel vault. It was somewhere between spectacular and cheesy. I admit to being fascinated but afterward if felt very inappropriate to the dignified grandeur of the room.

I'll be running with this a little further. You can form your own opinion.

     

Allegory

We move inside Union Station. It was the world's largest and busiest passenger rail station when it opened in 1894. (Not any more! Ever been to Sinjuku in Tokyo?) This stained glass window is over the main street entrance. It is an allegory of the American railways with San Francisco on the laft, New York on the right and St. Louis in the middle. 

The Great Hall has been transformed in a recent renovation (not that it was bad before). More about that tomorrow.

I got some time to walk around downtown Indy at lunchtime today and I was impressed. Modern, attractive and with many facilities. It's the center of Indiana state government and that seems to provide a steady economic anchor.                                 

Do Not Text While Standing On Railroad Tracks

Our old railway terminal, Union Station, is one of the grandest buildings in the US, IMHO. It's been on the blog a number of times. They had an event last Saturday they called Train Day, marking the centennial of the driving of the Golden Spike, joining railroad lines from the east and west coasts. A transcontinental network was created.

Among other things, they had lots of train cars and locomotives you could climb through. The Missouri Highway Patrol was there, promoting safety at street-railroad crossings. The banner in the top photo is a bit over the top. Anyone who meets her end while standing on railroad tracks, back to the direction of travel, oblivious to the roar of an oncoming engine while texting should be nominated for the Darwin Awards.

I have to drive to Indianapolis on this cold, wet morning  There is a professional conference in my legal specialty through the rest of the week. Might cut into my posting and comment time.                            

Last Stop

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St. Louis Union Station is now a luxury hotel, a group of restaurants and a failing tourist mall. In its day it was one of the great railroad junctions of North America. As such, it had to have a place for travelers to stay. Here's the former entrance to the Terminal Hotel. Sure, railroad stations and airports have terminals but this sounds so much like terminal disease or "terminate with extreme prejudice" (remember that phrase in Apocalypse Now?). The Terminal Hotel sounds like the roach motel - you check in but you don't check out. It's the end of the line.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series and a new Arch photo on GATEWAY.