Clad in gleaming copper and adorned with four large cartouches, the dome rests on a central pavilion with large arched openings on each side. The building's focal point is its ninety-foot-high central dome, which stands out in the Tacoma skyline and has become one of the enduring emblems of the city. At the same time Union Station was under construction, they were collaborating with two other architects to design a world-renowned Beaux-Arts masterpiece-New York City's Grand Central Terminal (1903-1913). The architects Reed and Stem were already well known in the field of railroad station design, particularly for their organization of space and movement. Tacoma Union Station is a magnificent example of Beaux-Arts architecture that combines awe-inspiring elegance with spatial efficiency. Today, though it no longer serves its original function, Union Station is once again a source of pride to the people of Tacoma. The federal courts began occupancy in 1992. After three years of work, the historic building was completely renovated and restored, and a three-story addition was constructed. General Services Administration (GSA) to lease Union Station for thirty-five years to provide space for the federal courts. The last passenger train left Union Station on June 14, 1984, and the abandoned building soon fell into disrepair. In 1971 national passenger rail service merged into Amtrak. Railway rider ship peaked in the 1930s and again during World War II, then quickly declined as the automobile became America's preferred mode of transportation. The Tacoma Daily Ledger praised it as 'the largest, the most modern and in all ways the most beautiful and best equipped passenger station in the Pacific Northwest.'ĭespite optimistic forecasts by the railroad companies early in the century, the future would not be kind to the passenger rail industry. Acclaim for Reed and Stem's design was immediate. In 1906 the architectural firm of Reed and Stem was selected to design a new station more befitting Tacoma's image as a prosperous, thriving metropolis and railway terminus of the Northwest.Ĭonstruction of Union Station began in 1909 and was completed in May 1911. The city's first rail station was built in 1883, then moved to the site of the present Union Station on Pacific Avenue and enlarged in 1892. Its economy expanded rapidly over the next two decades, and its population skyrocketed from just under 2,000 in 1873 to 37,714 in 1890. The city became a center for industrial and commercial development. Tacoma's reputation as the 'City of Destiny' began when it was chosen by the Northern Pacific Company in 1873 as the western terminus of the northern route of the transcontinental railroad, then under construction.

Courthouse at Union Station is a highly successful adaptive use of a Tacoma landmark.

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