Union Station

Union Station was commissioned in 1933 by a joint venture of three major railroads, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Designed by the father-and-son team of John and Donald Parkinson, who had previously created Los Angeles City Hall and Bullocks Wilshire. Completed in 1939 at a cost of $11 million, this monumental terminal opened as the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States, representing the last great American train station built in a ceremonial style even as rail travel was already beginning its decline.

The architects created a uniquely Californian hybrid they termed Mission Moderne, synthesizing Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival, and Art Deco elements into a deliberately timeless design. The structure centers on a soaring 100-foot clock tower and features a vast 52,000-square-foot waiting room illuminated by 40-foot brass-framed windows. Inside, six bronze Art Deco chandeliers designed by Phoenix Day, each 10 feet in diameter and weighing 3,000 pounds; hang above marble floors and 286 hand-crafted mahogany waiting chairs that remain in use today. Steel beams were clad in plaster to simulate vaulted wooden ceilings, while eight-pointed star motifs throughout reference Moorish architecture filtered through Mission Revival traditions.