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Old Posted Aug 1, 2009, 6:20 AM
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Mr Downtown Mr Downtown is offline
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^Unfair treatment compared to Central, Grand Central, LaSalle Street, and North Western Stations? We should just be glad it's still here!

The main reason in recent years is probably Amtrak ownership. It was NRPC, not Metra, who hired Lagrange for the early 90s remodeling. Perennially cash-strapped NRPC can't afford to air-condition the Great Hall, though they did at least restore it after the fire in the 80s and reopen the skylight. A run of bad luck, I guess, has prevented the office development from launching in three successive real estate cycles—though the design gets better each time it's proposed again.

And by the way, I don't think Burnham had much of anything to do with Union Station in Chicago. Burnham died three years before construction began. The spendid plan and circulation scheme was all worked out by Thomas Rodd of the Pennsylvania R.R., and the neoclassical design (even the office building scheme added as an afterthought) was by Peirce Anderson.
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