The morning of Wednesday, April 24, 2013, Amtrak passengers leaving from Seattle’s King Street Station will no longer have to queue up in the corridors. That’s the day the Waiting Room officially reopens, part of a $55 million restoration project that stripped away a series of ill-considered changes to the original decor. Seattle’s Department of Transportation paints the picture for you:
When the station was opened to the public in May 1906, its grand waiting room had ornamental plaster ceilings. The plaster walls were interspersed with fluted Corinthian columns. The lower part of the walls and columns have white marble accented with glass mosaic tiles in white, green, red and gold. A massive bronze chandelier hung in the center of the main waiting room. Along with four smaller chandeliers and wall sconces, they provided illumination for the passengers inside the station. The terrazzo floor has inlaid square mosaic tiles. This created a compass shaped pattern at the station entrance and other rectangular patterns throughout the rest of the areas.
Now, people who aren’t even taking the train may want to stage tearful partings and reunions there, but in fact the largest part of the budget went to earthquake reinforcement (there are disadvantages to that soaring 242-foot clock tower modeled after St. Mark’s Campanile in Venice). The finish work portion cost a little more than $7 million.
Mayor Mike McGinn and “other distinguished guests” will attend the ceremony Wednesday, which is scheduled for 11 to 11:45 a.m. The public is invited, naturally, but attendees are requested to RSVP by email so that SDOT knows what kind of turn-out to expect: trevina.wang@seattle.gov.