| 1932-08-20 | Railway Age | Vol. 93 No. 8 |
New facilities of Canadian Pacific at Montréal, Que., and Canadian National at Hamilton, Ont., combine the classic in appearance with the most modern in layout and arrangement.
The New Montréal-Park Avenue Station of the Canadian Pacific
The New Station of the Canadian National at Hamilton, Ont.
The completion of two important passenger stations in Canada, one on the Canadian Pacific in the northern section of Montréal, Québec, and the other on the Canadian National at Hamilton, Ontario, shows not alone the trend of passenger station design and construction in populous areas in Canada, but also the thoroughly modern and attractive facilities which the Canadian roads are providing, The new station of the Canadian Pacific provides modern facilities in a rapidly developing residential section of Montréal, replacing two small. stations, while the new one at Hamilton is the main station of the Canadian National in that city and replaces an old structure. Both stations are parts of complete developments with track platforms and baggage and express facilities, and necessitated considerable auxiliary work in the way of street improvmemts. Although all of these improvements are of interest, this article is confined largeIy to the passenger station buildings themselves and the auxiliary passenger facilities which they afford.
The new station at Montréal, which is known as Montréal-Park Avenue, is located on a large irregular plot of ground in the northern part of the city, facing on Jean Talon street and clirectIy at the head of Park avenue, from which it takes its name. The station building, which covers an area about 234 it. long by 87 ft. wide, is a steel frame structure, faced with Indiana limestone. designed along modified Italian Renaissance lines. The main part of the station is a three-story structure, 55 ft, high, with a portico in the center front, enclosed by four largs columns and sumounted by a balcony. This main unit, which houses tbe station concourse and two stories of railway offices, is flanked on each end by a one-story wing, in full harmony with the main body of the station. One of these wings is used essentially for lunch room and kitchen facilities, while the other contains a waiting room and toilet facilities for men and women. The entire building is of fireproof construction, with its stone face backed with brick and furred on the inside with Haydite blocks, with concrete floors, expanded metal lath in plastered walls, and with all trim, except that in the office areas, of incombustible materials,
The main entrance to the station consists of double bronze doorways at each end of the portico, with high sectional glass window panels between them, and provides two entrance vestibules, both of which lead directly into the main stafion concourse. This concourse, which is about 80 ft. long by 55 ft. wide and three stories high, is surrounded by other passenger facilities, 1ocated with the aim of providing the greatest convenience to passengers. The front side of the concourse is occupied by the ticket office, directly between the two entrance lobbies, while on the rear side of the concourse are located the parcel and baggage checking roams, offices for the station and baggage masters, telegraph stations, and an entrance and exit vestibule for use by passengers with heavy baggage, arriving or departing in taxis. At the east end of the concourse, occupying mainly the east wing of the building, is a lunch room, about 40 ft. long by 30 ft. wide, flanked along its front side, along the front of the building, by a kitchen and a barber shop, and along its rear side by a news stand, and by a passenger ramp which leads from the concourse, through a subway, to the track platform at the station.
Looking through the attractive concourse of the new station at Montréal
At the opposite end of the concourse, the west wing provides a waiting room, 56 ft. long by 46 ft. wide, flanked on its front side by a woman's rest room and toilet and on its rear side by a men's smoking room and toilet. Conventional back-to-back settees occupy the center of the waiting room, and along both sides are wide open aisles or passageways, which. lead directly to exit doors in the west end of the room. This exit, which opens out on a new street constructed in connection with the station project, is provided with an ornamental metal and glass marquise, and is used mainly by passengers arriving at or leaving the station by street cars.
The interior of the station is as impressive as its exterior, and yet it is pleasing in its simplicity and of a type of construction which can be readily and economically maintained. The concourse, as well as the lobbies directly off from it, is faced with Travertine marble on the side walls, and the ceiling of the concourse, which is arched, is treated with an acoustical material to soften the echoes and to tone down the genera1 noise which would otherwise be evident. The floors of the concourse and adjacent public spaces are surfaced with terrazzo in a pleasing two-tone buff effect, with black marble bases and borders, The entrances and exits to the station are provided with glazed bronze doors in bronze frames, while all other openings around the central public spaces are fitted with doors and frames of Monel metal.
The ticket office is of the open-counter type, in which the counter is faced with Travertine and has a Belgian Black marble top. Along the front of the counter is a low Monel metal.screen with individual wickets at the eight ticket sellers' posts. Other counters at the station, including those of the telegraph office and Travelers' Aid, are of similar construction, except that they do not have counter screens.
The waiting room is finished in much the same manner as the concourse, but with a simple ornamental plastered ceiling with no acoustical treatment. The settees within this room are of dark walnut. The men's smoking room, directly along the north side of the waiting room is finished with a heather brown quarry tile floor and dado to window sill height, and with plastered walls and ceiling above the dado in a soft buff tone decoratian, and is fitted with conventional settees of dark oak. The women's rest room, on the opposite side of the waiting room, has an oak floor and dado, with plastered walls and a simply ornamented plastered ceiling, finished with a Craftex treatment, and is furnished with dark oak chairs and tables. The toilets off from these rooms are finished with white Ceramic tile floors, and with white marble dados and toilet partitions.
The lunch room has a terrazzo floor, plaster walls and ceiling, and is fitted with two low "U-shaped" counters of Travertine and Belgian Black marble, each of which is served by 19 upholstered chair-height seats vith backs. The kitchen in conjunction with the lunch room is provided with a red quarry tile flour, with white glazed tile walls to the ceiling height, and is fitted with modern kitchen equipment, including electric refrigeration and gas ranges.
Artificial illumination af the main concourse is effected by means of concealed cove lighting, with the lights. housed in the cornice around the top of the room. The lighting in the other parts of the building is appropriate to the areas served, and, for the most part, is by means of ornamental drop light fixtures suspended from the ceiling.
The track facilities lie along the east end of the station, and include two passenger tracks served by a low intermediate csvered platform, 30 ft. wide and 1,200 ft. long. Passage between the station and the platform is entirely under cover through a passenger ramp and subway, 135 ft. in length, leading off from the east end of the concourse. The ramp, which is 14 ft, wide and on a pitch of about eight per cent, is finished in harmony with the rest of the station and is lined near the concourse end with display windows trimmed with Monel metal.
A section of the main lobby of the Hamilton station showing the pleasing simplicity of its design
One of the important features of the new station is its expansive setling, provided with garden plots and wide asphalt-surfaced driveways and parking areas, which not only enhance the appearance of the structure itself, but which also preclude any possibility of traffic congestion about the station. As a further convenience to the public in reaching or leaving the station, two street subways were constructed near the building on Jean Talon street and Park avenue, and the car lines on these streets were extended over the new street along the west end of the station to provide direct service for railway patrons, Night illumination about the station area is afforded by street lighting standards similar to those employed generally about the city, while the building proper is illuminated by two batteries of floodlights. Other improvements in connection with the station project include a new Canadian Pacific Express building and powerhouse, directly back of the passenger station and adjacent to fhe company's tracks, This building, which is about 100 ft. long by 53 ft. wide, is a one-story brick structure, trimmed with concrete. The main floor area, of the building is divided into a large express room and a general office, while the basement, which was excavated to a depth of 27 ft., is used as a power plant to serve the station facilities,
The heating system provided in the station is of the two-pipe, low-presswe vacuum type, the vacuum pumps being located in the basement of the station proper. All piping between the power plant and the station is carried underground in a tunnel connecting the two buildings.
General first floor plan of the Montréal-Park Avenue station
General plan showing the layout of the ground floor of the station at Hamilton
The new passeager statfon of the Canadian National at Hamilton, a city of approximately 55,000 population, is the main unit in a large passenger terminal improvement project in that city, which included the elimination of certain grade crossings and the prowision of new express-handling facilities, all designed for the convenience of the public and to improve and facilitate train service. The new station structure, which is located north of the main business center of the city, occupies a site bounded on the west by James street, on the south by Murray street, on the east by John street and on the north by the railroad tracks. The main façade of the building faces Murray street, but is set back a considerable distance from the street line, providing a wide intervening area which is treated as a station plaza with suitable driveways, auto parking space and a large landscaped area.
The station building proper is 290 ft. long by 83 ft. wide, at approximately the street level, with the tracks behind it at an elevation about 25 ft. lower. The building is of reinforced concrete and steel construction, face with Queenston limestone, and follows the Greek Doric style of architecture, with a slight modern touch. The front face of the building, which is two stories high, is dominated by a central portico, with four large fluted columns, crowned by a pediment. Carved stone ornament is used sparingly on the face of the building, and is particularly effective because of the subjects represented. For example, the carving in the stone panels over the three main entance doorways illustrates the part played by the Canadian National in the transportation of the various producs of the country, while carvings of the coat of arms of the City of Hamilton and of the Province of Ontario appear on the parapets over the pavilions at each end of the station. The second floor of the station is laid out in railway offices, reaches by an entrance in the front of the building at its west end, while a similar entrance at the east end of the building leads to offices of the Canadian National Express Company on the main foor. The express handling facilities at the statuib, as well as those for handling mail, are located in a one-story wing, 270 ft. long by 50 ft. wide, at the east end of the station proper, at the track level, completely hidden from the main approach view of the station.
On entering the main doorways to the station, one finds himself in a vestibule, with the main station lobby immediately ahead, and a train concourse directly beyond, at a lower level and connected to the lobby by a wide sloping passageway. The main lobby, which is about 74 ft. long by 40 ft. wide, is surrounded by the usual station facilities, located conveniently to incoming and outgoing passengers, The front of the lobby east of the main entrance is occupied by a ticket office of the enclosed type, while the area to the west of the entrance is occupied by a news stand, an office and public space.
The opposite side of the lobby is divided in the center by the passageway to the train concourse, to the east of which are located the men's smoking room and lavatory, and to the west of which are located the women's waiting room and lavatory. The main passenger facilities at the east end of the lobby include express, parcel and baggage checking facilities, while those at the west end of the building include a lunch room, about 35 ft. long by 29 ft. wide, and a kitchen and pantry.
Throughout the main lobby, which is carried up the full height of the building, the Greek influence is again manifest, but in it there is a distinct modern touch. Interior columns are faced with marble, as are also all pilasters. Marble is also used in a dado which surrounds the room, and the walls above the adod are of plaster, but with a variegated stone effect. The coffered plaster ceiling is colored in soft grays, blues and terra cotta tones. The floor is of patterned terrazzo in color combinations. Skylights in the ceiling and windows on the track side of the lobby provide adequate daylighting of the interior, while articial lighting is effect by two large ornamental bronze handing lamps, supplemented by ornamental wall brackets.
The Women's Room in the New C.P.R. Station has a Distinctly Restful Appearance
Looking Into the Train Concourse of the Hamilton Station From the Main Lobby
All of the auxiliary public spaces at the station are finished and lighted as effectively as the main lobby, with the aim of producing a pleasing and restful effect on railway patrons. The lunch room, for example, has light plastered walls with dark wood dado and trim, a plastered ceiling from which attractive lighting fixtures are suspended, and a colored terrazzo floor. The counter, which is "U-shaped" and has a rubber top, is served by low, backed stools.
The train concourse, lying centrally back of the main lobby, to which it is connected by a wide slopinig passageway. is 134 ft. long by 60 ft. wide, at a level of 3 ft. 3 in. below the lobby, and extends directly over the station tracks. In this large area, the walls are faced to a height of eight feet with a buff colored glazed brick, above which they are finished with a rough sand plaster between large windows areas. The ceiling is the open steelwork of the truss roof structure, and the floor is of terazzo. As this area is designed to used largely as a waiting room for passengers and their friends, settees are provided along both side walls between train gates, and direct connections are provided with the men's and women's waiting rooms and toilets in the station building proper, supplementing the entrances to these facilities from the main lobby.
The track and platform layout at the station includes six station track tracks, three passenger platforms and three trucking platforms, so arranged that each track is served by both types of platforms. All of the platforms are of the low type, of concrete construction, and are covered by individual umbrella type sheds on both sides of the concourse. The passenger platform, which are 20 ft. wide, have connection to both sides of the concourse by enclosed stairways, and, in addition, to one side by long enclosed ramps on a grade of 10 per cent. One the side of the concourse served by both stairs and ramps, the ramps are forked near their upper ends and pass around both sides of the stair wells. Both the stairs and ramps are of steel frame construction, with non-slip treads, and are adequately daylighted by windows in their side enclosure walls.
Owing to the construction of the station on the side of a deep cut, the rear or track side of the station proper is four stories high; that is, it has an exposed track level floor and a mezzanine floor below the street-level floor. The mezzanine floor provides large service and office areas, and on this floor are located the train despatcher's office and rooms to accommodate the employees in the lunch room service and about the station proper. The track-level floor, on the west side of the station, is occupied by baggage rooms, offices for conductors, trainmen and car inspectors, and a large boiler room, while the east half of this floor is given over entirely to the handling, checking and storage of baggage.
The express and mail facilities at the station are located in the one-story wing at the east end of the station proper, at the track level. This unit which is of brick construction with a frame roof on steel trusses, a concrete floor at tail-bard height, and with rolling steel doors on both sides, faces on a trucking platform on the track side, and is served by a wide concrete drive and truckway on the front side.
Heating of all the staiton faclities is provided for in the boiler room on the track-level floor of the station proper, where there are two oil-fired boilers of the water-tube type, The station building itself is heated by a vacuum return system, and in all public areas, except the concourse, the radiators are concealed. The concourse, baggage rooms and express and mail wing are heated by means of unit heaters suspended from the ceiling. The boilers, through a pressure reducing valve, also supply steam far heating standing cars at the station.
To insure adequate ventilation within the station, a force veatilation system was installed, ia which fresh air is supplied to the main lobby and the lunch room and kitchen, and is exhausted from these rooms as well as from the men's and women's waiting rooms and toilets.
The entire layout at Hamilton was devloped under the direction of S. J. Hungerford, vice-president of the Canadian National, and of W. A. Kingsland, general manager and T. T. Irving, ehief engineer, of the Central region. The design and construction of the buildings was carried out under the direction of John Schofield, architect, G. F. Drummond, assistant architect, and H. C. Cann, mechanical engineer. E. Hedley, building superintendent, was in immediate charge of construction, which was done under a generd contract by the Pegott Construction Company, Hamilton.
The new Montréal-Park Avenue station of the Canadian Pacific was planned under the direcfion of J. M. R. Fairbairn, chief engineer, and J. E. Armstrong, assistant chief engineer, while the work of design and construction was under the direct supervision of J. W. Orrock, engineer of buildings , and N. B. Reardon, assistant engineer of buildings. Actual construction was done under contract by Anglin-Norcross, Ltd., Montréal.
Ref: Hamilton