Broad Street Station (Philadelphia)

Broad Street Station was a railroad station built in 1881 and served as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's primary rail hub until the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) completed 30th Street Station in 1933. Originally designed by the Wilson Brothers, it was dramatically expanded according to a design by renowned Philadelphia architect Frank Furness (1839-1912) in 1891. In 1894, the PRR relocated its headquarters from Fourth Street in Philadelphia to Broad Street Station, where they remained before being shifted to Suburban Station in the 1930s. It was finally demolished in 1953 after all train service ceased the previous year.

Location and Services

Broad Street Station dominated the center of the city. It was located on the northwest corner of 15th and Market Streets, right across Penn Square from City Hall, and had a terminal station design whereby trains would enter and exit the station from the same direction over what is now John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The access tracks were mounted on a viaduct known as Philadelphia's "chinese wall" and ran west from the station to the Schuylkill River. They thus bisected Center City Philadelphia to the north and south. The station was renowned for its architecture but cursed for inundating the heart of the city with the smoke and noise pollution of the day's steam-powered locomotives. The Chinese Wall of the tracks also made Center City north of the station undesirable, as the area was essentially cut off from the rest of downtown. Passengers arriving at Broad Street Station could then make public transportation connections to the rest of the city via the numerous trolley lines that operated around it on Market Street and 15th Street or via Philadelphia's east-west Market-Frankford El (beginning in 1907) or the north-south Broad Street Subway starting in 1928. These latter two consisted of heavy rail lines that intersected under City Hall.

The Station provided service to virtually every destination serviced by the PRR. From Broad Street Station, passengers heading in any direction would first arrive at West Philadelphia Station at 32nd and Market Streets on the west side of the Schuylkill, which in 1933 was replaced by 30th Street Station. The lines then split off in three directions:

*Trains heading west towards Harrisburg would then take the PRR's Pennsylvania Division line to 40th Street Station, 52nd Street Station, and Overbrook Station. Trains heading northwest along the Schuylkill would split off from this line after 52nd Street towards the stations at Wynnefield Avenue and Cynwyd.
*Trains heading north towards New York City or east across the Delaware River to New Jersey would take the New York Division lines through North Philadelphia, North Penn Junction, and Frankford Junction Stations, before splitting off in their respective directions.
*Trains heading south would take the Baltimore & Washington RR Central Division line through Angora station.

Today all of these railroad lines, except for the one between 30th Street and Broad Street stations, remain intact as part of SEPTA or NJ Transit rail services.

Architecture

The architecture of Broad Street Station was typical of Furness' buildings in central Philadelphia in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Furness' structure looked much like a web of Gothic spires and arched windows, with considerable modification from their medieval sources. His work expanded on a similar structure originally constructed by the Wilson Brothers a mere decade before. Furness' windows were often rounded, and did not use pointed chancels. The lower levels of the structure were heavy and rusticated, recalling the work of H. H. Richardson from the previous decade, while the spandrels of the upper stories emphasized the building's verticality. The frame for the stone structure was largely made of iron and steel, and on the interior the structural techniques were often displayed by balustrades and columns that in places revealed the rivets that held them together. The formal style of the building was altogether not unlike that of Furness' building for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which he completed in 1876, or his library for the University of Pennsylvania, designed in 1888.

As the station expanded after 1881, additional train sheds were added to cover additional tracks--twelve in all by 1891. They were eventually replaced by a single shed, which upon its completion in 1892, had the largest single span of any station roof in the world (91 m), and ultimately covered 16 tracks, but was destroyed by a fire on 11 June 1923. The fire began about 1:00 A.M. local time and burned for two days. Amazingly, work on clearing the debris began even while the fire was still smoldering. The steel skeleton that remained was fully removed; thereafter, the train platforms operated while covered by small, "umbrella" shelters. These replacements were destroyed by another fire that began at 9:38 A.M. local time on 12 September 1943, and were replaced by a similar structure that remained for the last ten years of the station's existence.

Demise

In the 1920s and '30s, the Pennsylvania Railroad constructed two new stations: 30th Street Station, which is now the main intercity hub for Philadelphia rail travel, and Suburban Station, an underground stub line that went from 30th Street Station to a tunnel that ended just northwest of City Hall, directly north of Broad Street Station. (This line was later extended east as part of the Center City Commuter Connection tunnel in the SEPTA era.) 30th Street Station was a through railway station which did not require intercity trains to turn around to exit the station, while Suburban Station took over the commuter rail traffic. As a result, Broad Street Station's importance diminished dramatically. It ultimately suffered a fate similar to many of Furness' institutional buildings, as it was closed in 1952 and razed in 1953. The land which was once occupied by Broad Street Station and its access tracks is now the home to the commercial heart of the city, also known as Penn Center, including buildings such as the 54-story Mellon Bank Center. A bas-relief mural, located in the northwest corner of the main waiting area at 30th Street Station, was originally located in Broad Street Station. Today all that remains is a historic marker on 15th Street to commemorate the site.

ee also

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*Reading Terminal
*30th Street Station

References