The ornamental architecture from the 1881 design was removed although the clock tower was rebuilt, a bit taller than the previous with clocks on each face.

They gave the new design a much lower profile and pitched roof but kept the same overall dimensions as the previous (its width was unchanged and the height remained at two stories). There were several changes carried out, notably on the exterior. It was decided the facility would be rebuilt and the firm Taylor, Van Brunt & Howe of Kansas City was hired for the job. The fire caused severe damage to the the central waiting room and its southern section while the clock tower was completely destroyed. The cause of the fire was faulty electrical wiring, which was not uncommon in those times. Sadly, this original structure was partially destroyed by fire just 13 years after opening, on March 18, 1894. radiated a civic monumentality far beyond its relatively modest interior volumes' with a large open lawn area and trees lining the street.

This original facility had cost $525,000, quite a sum for that time.Īccording to the website 'Union Station Advocates' the building, '. It was located just south of downtown Denver along 17th and Wynkoop Streets on the eastern bank of the South Platte River opening on June 1, 1881. Taylor was hired and conceived a station in the Romanesque Revival Style featuring a central clock tower with two massive wings in each direction stretching nearly a football field in length (the entire limestone-and-rhyolite façade was 500 feet long). Led by Union Pacific's efforts to construct a centralized union station the four companies agreed and incorporated the Union Depot Company in 1879.

Colorado Central (a later C&S subsidiary).

Denver, South Park & Pacific (later Colorado & Southern, a division of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy).

Denver & Rio Grande (later Denver & Rio Grande Western).

Both routes would soon come under the control of UP.īy the 1870s the city was served by four different stations utilized by: It also provided a through connection to Kansas City via Denver and the Kansas Pacific Railway. The first was depot opened in Denver was completed in 1868 by the Denver Pacific Railway, a system which linked Denver with Union Pacific's transcontinental main line at Cheyenne, Wyoming. The structure so well known today is not actually the original to occupy the site.

Interior union station denver