Union Station (Seattle)

Union Station is a former train station in Seattle, Washington, United States, constructed between 1910 and 1911 to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road. It was originally named Oregon and Washington Station, after a subsidiary line of the Union Pacific. It serves today as the headquarters of Sound Transit, the public transit agency serving the city and metro area.

Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The building's exterior in 2016
Location	4th Ave. S. and S. Jackson St. Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Coordinates	47.5987°N 122.3285°W
Built	1910–11
Architect	Daniel J. Patterson
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts
NRHP reference No.	74001960
Added to NRHP	August 30, 1974

History

Interior, as seen from the front entrance

Located at the corner of S. Jackson Street and 4th Avenue S. in the Pioneer Square neighborhood, the station opened on May 20, 1911.[1] The Milwaukee Road discontinued passenger service to Union Station 50 years later, on May 22, 1961, and the Union Pacific followed suit on April 30, 1971. With no passenger rail service serving Seattle from Union Station, the building remained largely empty. An antique store filled the great hall for several years. After nearly 30 years of sitting idle, the station finally experienced an expansive renovation supported by Nitze-Stagen with financial backing from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The Union Station's renovation was the winner of the 2000 National Historic Preservation Award. The building has served as the headquarters of Sound Transit since 1999. Its grand hall is available to the public as a venue for weddings and other events.

In Seattle, the term Union Station refers not only to the main station building, but also to the several adjacent office buildings at 505, 605, 625 and 705 5th Avenue South. Amazon.com was a major tenant of these properties from 2000[2] to 2011, all but one owned by Opus Northwest,[3] and the other by Vulcan.[4] The entire complex is earthquake-proofed by an underground ring of rubber.[5]

The remaining passenger train service to Seattle (Amtrak long-distance trains and Sounder commuter trains) operates from King Street Station, located one block to the west of Union Station. The International District/Chinatown station of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, opened in 1990 and served by buses of King County Metro and since 2009 by Sound Transit's Central Link light rail line, is located directly adjacent to Union Station, mostly below street level.

References

1. MacIntosh, Heather M. (October 1, 1999). "Railroad Stations: Their Evolution in Seattle". HistoryLink. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
2. Giebel, Tonya (November 9, 2000). "Making a home for Amazon at Union Station". Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. Archived from the original on November 26, 2015. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
3. Opus Center @ Union Station - 705 Union Station, Opus Northwest, retrieved 2009-04-07
4. Vulcan Real Estate: 505 Union Station, Vulcan Real Estate, retrieved 2009-04-07
5. 505 Union Station, Glass Steel and Stone, archived from the original on 2008-07-20, retrieved 2009-04-07

Further reading

• Crowley, Walt; MacIntosh, Heather (1999), The Story of Union Station in Seattle, HistoryLink

Preceding station	Milwaukee Road			Following station
Terminus		Main Line		Black River towards Chicago
Preceding station	Union Pacific Railroad			Following station
Kent toward Portland		Portland–Seattle Line		Terminus