William H. Gray III 30th Street Station

hiladelphia’s famed William H. Gray III 30th Street Station was built between 1929 and 1933 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to replace the Broad Street Station that had become much too congested to support the city’s growth. Designed by Alfred Shaw of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, the enormous, eight-story steel frame building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. It is an example of some of the railroad industry’s most monumental construction and is architecturally interesting for its use, adaptation and transformation of the Neoclassical style into a more modern, streamlined Art Deco style. The exterior of the building features typical neoclassical elements such as seventy-one-foot-high Corinthian columns forming impressive porticoes on the east and west facades, rendered in Alabama limestone.

The interior of the station, meanwhile, is notable for both its stylistic and functional elements. The Main Concourse measures 290 by 135 feet with a 95-foot-high coffered ceiling and beautiful Art Deco chandeliers. It is lined by gilded and ornamented columns that contrast with the more austere classicism of the façade as well as by five-story-high cathedral-like windows. The floor, made of Tennessee marble, completes the sense of opulence of this impressive room.

When it was built, novel functional features were designed into the complex to increase the utility of the building by giving it an efficient communications system without removing any of the desired monumentality. These features include an elaborate buzzer and intercom system new to those days, as well as an integrated pneumatic tube network for internal communications. The building also incorporated unusual spaces including a chapel, a mortuary and 3,300 square feet of hospital space – not traditional elements in a busy transportation hub. Capping off this most forward-thinking of structures, the architects reinforced the concrete roof of the concourse section to allow a landing space for small aircraft.

William H. Gray III 30th Street Station also represents a milestone in the progression of American railroading and urban planning. One of the last of the major urban stations to be constructed, it was part of an overall central city improvement program begun in 1925 by the City of Philadelphia and the PRR called the Philadelphia Improvements project. This decades-long effort to reestablish a plan for the city’s urban core, which also led to the creation of the famous Benjamin Franklin Parkway, was borne out of the desire to simplify and beautify its streetscape and ease the growing congestion closer to the center of town.

At the same time, this station is rare in that it is one of the few in the country where trains arrive and depart from all four directions: from Boston in the north to Florida in the south, and from Atlantic City in the east to Chicago in the west. Facilitating this rare versatility, the station’s use of underground tracks for long-distance trains passing through the station marked the railroad’s commitment to electricity as a preferable source of energy for trains, continuing the gradual replacement of steam—itself a radical paradigm shift in the industry.

Over the years, impressive monuments have been added to the station’s public spaces. Visitors can find Karl Bitter’s 1895 bas-relief, The Spirit of Transportation, in the North Waiting Room off the Main Concourse. Occupying almost the entire west wall, it depicts the progress of transportation; a central female figure sits in a horse-drawn carriage, while children cradle models of a steamship, steam locomotive and dirigible. Also prominently displayed is Walker Hancock’s Pennsylvania Railroad War Memorial, a sculpture of the Archangel Michael lifting a dead soldier’s body out of the flames of war. Cast in 1950, the memorial honors the 1,307 PRR employees who died in military service during World War II, out of the 54,035 who served.

In spring 2022, Amtrak revealed a new custom art exhibit designed by longtime customer and local artist Virginia Maksymowicz. Located in the North Waiting Room, it is a 14×10 foot replica map of the Amtrak network. Titled Tools of the Trade, the sculpture is composed of tools cast in low-density urethane resin; casts of spikes and bolts suggest mountains, and S-curved wrenches, calipers and railroad clips signify water. The work is meant to make visible the often-invisible role that railroad workers play in building and maintaining Amtrak’s infrastructure.

From 1988-1991, Amtrak led a $75 million development effort to renovate the station as it neared its 60th anniversary. The company assembled a team that included Hines Interests, project manager; Dan Peter Kopple & Associates (DPKA), consulting architects; and Clark/Hyman, contractor; as well as numerous subcontractors. The project included the restoration of the Main Concourse, with special attention given to its ceiling, chandeliers, travertine walls and massive marble columns.

Restoration experts repaired broken fingers and other elements of The Spirit of Transportation, while metal elements on the Pennsylvania Railroad War Memorial were cleaned and sealed with a fresh coat of protective wax. Above the passenger areas, approximately 280,000 square feet of office space was modernized to house 1,500 Amtrak employees. New shops, stores and food vendors were installed in the South Arcade and South Concourse. Outside, the facades were also refurbished and a former mail handling facility was converted into a 420-space underground parking garage.

As a major transportation hub and West Philadelphia landmark, William H. Gray III 30th Street Station continues to be an anchor for development. In 2004, investors broke ground on the construction of the Cira Center, a 29-story office building designed by architect César Pelli. Completed the following year, the new building both stands on ground leased from Amtrak and also includes a skyway connecting it to a parking lot and the station. Designed by the same architect who built the world-famous Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, the striking new building marks both the evolution and continuation of the station’s unique and innovative history.

In recent years, the state, city and civic organizations have undertaken numerous efforts to enhance the streetscape and pedestrian zones around the station by widening sidewalks and creating safer street crossings. As part of these efforts, in 2011 the University City District, working with PennDOT, created “The Porch” between the station and Market Street. An inviting and active public space, it includes seating, shade trees and colorful seasonal plantings, as well as a full schedule of activities. The end result has been a busier public space that attracts nearby office workers, students and local residents.

In 2014, the U.S. Congress passed a law to rename what was then “30th Street Station” in honor of former U.S. Representative William Herbert Gray III, who represented Pennsylvania in that body from 1979 until 1991.

Born in Louisiana to parents who were both educators, Gray spent his early childhood in Florida. The family moved to Philadelphia in 1949 when his father took over the pastoral position at Bright Hope Baptist Church vacated by the recently deceased William Gray Sr. The younger Gray followed in his grandfather and father’s footsteps by entering the ministry, receiving master’s degrees in divinity and theology. He later assumed the pastor position at Bright Hope and rose to prominence as an activist with an interest in community housing and unemployment issues.

In Congress Gray was a member of the House Budget, Foreign Affairs and Appropriations committees, and he served as the first African American chairman of the Budget Committee. In 1989 Gray achieved another milestone when he became the Democratic Majority Whip, the third–ranking leadership position in the House of Representatives. Following his departure from Congress, Gray served as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund for more than a decade.

Also in 2014, Amtrak, Drexel University and Brandywine Realty Trust selected Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), in association with Parsons Brinckerhoff, OLIN, and HR&A Advisors, to develop a comprehensive joint master plan for the area around the station. The SOM team aimed to develop an integrated, long-term vision where the station is at the epicenter of a dynamic, urban neighborhood full of opportunities for community development, economic development and improved transportation connections. The project team engaged a wide range of stakeholders from across the city and its neighborhoods, soliciting feedback and synthesizing ideas collected during open houses, community events and other public meetings.

Unveiled in June 2016, the joint master plan envisions 40 new acres of open space and 18 million square feet of new development, including an entirely new mixed-use neighborhood anchoring the William H. Gray III 30th Street Station District atop 88 acres of rail yards along the western bank of the Schuylkill River. With a proposed $2 billion investment in roads, utilities, parks, bridges and extension of transit services, the plan has the estimated potential to unlock $4.5 billion in private real estate investment, in addition to $3.5 billion for Drexel’s adjacent Schuylkill Yards project being developed by Brandywine Realty Trust.

In early 2017, the William H. Gray III 30th Street Station District Plan was honored with the architecture industry’s most prestigious award – an Institute Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design from the American Institute of Architects. The District Plan was selected from more than 500 submissions from around the world.

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