Title: UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD DEPOT
Location Current Site: Greeley CO UNITED STATES
Creator Personal Name: Mead & Mount Cons. Co., Underwood,Gilbert S.
Creator Assoc Person Name: Brands,Scott J.
Creator Assoc Person Role: Photographer
Date.Creation: 1930-1930
Subject.Image Description: North facade
Creator.Personal Name Label: Underwood,Gilbert S.
Description.Image Comments: ENVD 4122 spring 2004 ELCALP project Instructor: Lynn Lickteig
Source.Acquisition Date: 2004-06-08 00:00:00
Style/Period: Modern Classicism
Style/Period Description: MODERN CLASSICISM
(1970-1990S)
Modern Classicism emerged as a distinct style in the 1970s, although it had its origins in Post-Modernism. Both approaches to design rejected the pure abstraction of the International Style. Instead, they employed historicism, which is the conscious revival of forms or motifs from the past because of their ability to evoke memories and associations with other times and places. Unlike Post-Modernists whose work is often cartoon-like, Modern Classicists use such forms as Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Tuscan columns just as the ancient Greeks or Romans or the designers of the Renaissance would have. In other words, columns and arches are structural or at least architectonic, rather than being applied ornament. Modern Classicists employ symmetry, balance, and measure in a manner that resembles that of their early 20th century American Renaissance predecessors, except that in their buildings historical ornamental details are often stripped away, leaving the underlying constructional forms, such as columns, lintels, and pediments, and the geometrical order of classical designs intact.
Some practitioners of Modern Classicism, such as Connecticut architect, Allen Greenberg, are quite consistent and literal in their emulation of the forms of 18th century English Colonial Neo-classical precedents and in their careful use of traditional materials like brick, stone, and wood. Other architects, such as Lawrence Booth of Chicago or Anthony Pellechia of Seattle, use a kind of stripped Modern Classicism in some situations, and at other times find the Vernacular Revival or Late Modern Styles more appropriate.
Subject Image View Type: Exterior, general view
Description.Subject Report: UNION PACIFIC RR DEPOT, GREELEY
Greeley, Colorado was founded as a railroad town. It was built in North Central Colorado as the halfway point between Denver and Cheyenne, Wyoming along the Denver and Pacific Railroad line as a water and fuel stop. It was later bought out by the Union Pacific Railroad. There have been four stations on, or near, the current building site. The first one was an old boxcar that served as a simple station. The second station was a basic wood structure that was built in 1871 and used for 12 years until the Denver and Pacific was bought out by Union Pacific in 1880. They replaced it with a new stone depot in 1883. That depot was then replaced in 1930 by the current depot building. The Union Pacific Railroad Depot is a Modern Classical building that was typical of a small town, pre-1930's Great Depression era station. The building was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood in 1929 for the Union Pacific Railroad, and built in 1930. Underwood designed buildings all over the United States, including several stations for Union Pacific (the most well known is the Omaha station), more than 20 Post Offices, the Grand Canyon Lodge along the north rim of the canyon, and the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. The railroad depot in Greeley is the only building that he designed in Colorado. The building was constructed by the Mead & Mount Construction Company of Denver at a cost of $88,000.00. At the dedication of the building, the president of Union Pacific, Carl Gray, told the crowd that "There is not much economic justification for the building of this station? This expenditure shows in a measure the appreciation of the railroad for the cooperation and aid this community has given the Union Pacific." Though Mr. Gray thought that it was uneconomical to build, it was used by Union Pacific until the creation of Amtrak in 1972, when all of their passenger service was handed over to them. Amtrak used the station as a stop on their San Francisco Zephyr Wyoming route until 1983, when Amtrak abandoned the route. The depot was empty from 1983 until 1991, when station was sold by Union Pacific to the City of Greeley because of a push of several historical societies to save the building from demolition. It was also in 1991 that Amtrak resumed service with the passenger line called the Pioneer, which went from Denver to Seattle. Amtrak once again abandoned the passenger line in 1997. It was then that the City of Greeley renovated the building to be used as the current city and county Chamber of Commerce building. The Greeley Visitor's Bureau also calls the depot home. During the renovation, they were careful to return as much of the building to its original state as possible including very elaborate stencils on the interior over the doors and windows. They also made sure to keep the terra cotta accentuates over the four main entrances and the double hung windows on the east and west elevations. The only real changes are a temporary wood structure in the lobby that is being used by the Visitor's Bureau. The other change was to overhaul the baggage room and make it a meeting room for the Chamber of Commerce. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 1993, and was put on the Greeley Historic Register in 1997 by the city Historic Preservation Committee. Trains still go through Greeley and pass the building on Union Pacific's main north-south line through Colorado, however, most of them are moving coal from Wyoming and few ever stop. However, the building still stands as remembrance of times past when the majority of the population in this country traveled by rail. Sources: http://www.ci.greeley.co.us/2/PageX.asp?fkOrgId=87&;PageURL=Depot, http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/sontag/underwood.htm
(Scott J. Brands, 2004)
ID Number.Former Image Accession VISC: 144556
Date.Image: 2004
Rights Description: Copyright owned by The Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate, and the photographer. All rights reserved.
Creator.Comments: American 1890-1960AD First office in LA in 1923. Worked with the U.S. National Park Service
Creator.Comments: Mead & Mount Construction Company of Denver
Source.Requestor Full Name: Lickteig, Lynn
Collection Name: Architecture and Planning Collection
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