A "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion, Part US-A: A Great Neoclassical Space | Union Station (1925)
This series complements my award-winning guidebook, Chicago in Stone and Clay: A Guide to the Windy City's Architectural Geology. Henceforth I'll just call it CSC.
The CSC section and page reference for the building featured here: 9.2; pp. 142-144.
Looking at the Waiting Room from its southeastern corner.
This photo also serves, in black-and-white form, as Figure 9.1 in CSC. And, as I say there, I think this is one of the Windy City's most splendid and effective neoclassical spaces. It features three different building-stone types much favored in these parts.
One of them, the Tivoli Travertine, is a very famous Quaternary rock variety I recently discussed with regard to its much more ancient use on Rome's Colosseum. It's present here in the lower walls and column shafts, and additionally in the grand stairways leading up to street level, not in this image. Further pics in this series will show it and the other selections at closer range.
And those other two selections are the Ordovician Holston Limestone ("Tennessee Marble," floor pavers) and the Mississippian-age (Lower Carboniferous) Salem Limestone ("Bedford" or "Indiana Limestone," exterior).
For more on this site, get and read Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at its Cornell University Press webpage.
The other photos and discussions in this series can be found in my "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion album. In addition, you'll find other relevant images and descriptions in my Architectural Geology: Chicago album.
A "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion, Part US-A: A Great Neoclassical Space | Union Station (1925)
This series complements my award-winning guidebook, Chicago in Stone and Clay: A Guide to the Windy City's Architectural Geology. Henceforth I'll just call it CSC.
The CSC section and page reference for the building featured here: 9.2; pp. 142-144.
Looking at the Waiting Room from its southeastern corner.
This photo also serves, in black-and-white form, as Figure 9.1 in CSC. And, as I say there, I think this is one of the Windy City's most splendid and effective neoclassical spaces. It features three different building-stone types much favored in these parts.
One of them, the Tivoli Travertine, is a very famous Quaternary rock variety I recently discussed with regard to its much more ancient use on Rome's Colosseum. It's present here in the lower walls and column shafts, and additionally in the grand stairways leading up to street level, not in this image. Further pics in this series will show it and the other selections at closer range.
And those other two selections are the Ordovician Holston Limestone ("Tennessee Marble," floor pavers) and the Mississippian-age (Lower Carboniferous) Salem Limestone ("Bedford" or "Indiana Limestone," exterior).
For more on this site, get and read Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at its Cornell University Press webpage.
The other photos and discussions in this series can be found in my "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion album. In addition, you'll find other relevant images and descriptions in my Architectural Geology: Chicago album.