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30th Street Station, located at 30th and Market Streets in Philadelphia, is the main railroad station in Philadelphia, PA, and is the heart of Philadelphia's passenger rail network. The station, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was opened in 1933, as one of several grand Pennsylvania Stations on the Pennsylvania Railroad lines. The Pennsylvania Railroad built its station at 30th and Market Streets in Philadelphia in response to an ever-increasing demand for service and efficiency. Construction occurred from 1929 to 1933. The station was the most significant part of a project known as The Philadelphia Improvements, which joined civic and private interests in revamping the transportation infrastructure of the city. The Improvements project followed closely on the heels of another city project, which brought about the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The station was designed by the Chicago firm of Graham Anderson Probst & White. It is 637 feet long on the side facing the Schuylkill River. It is 327 feet wide in an east-west direction. Its maximum height is 116 feet. Its main concourse, which forms the core of the structure, is 290 feet long and 135 feet wide. The concourse has a beautifully decorated, coffered ceiling rising 95 feet above a Tennessee marble floor. The exterior is faced with Alabama limestone. Amtrak has worked diligently over the last ten years to restore the structure to its original beauty. More than $100 million has been spent in restoration and renovation utilizing the services of DPK&A Architects, LLP. Today, 30th Street Station is second only to New York City’s Pennsylvania Station in national traffic. |