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Exterior view of Palo Alto South
Pacific Railroad Depot
Photograph by Judith Silva, courtesy of the City of Santa
Clara |
The Palo Alto Southern Pacific Station is an excellent example
of the Streamline Moderne style which has important connections
with American social history, and which is not typically found
in Palo Alto. During the 1920s and 1930s most of the significant
buildings in town were designed by a single dominant and exceptionally
talented local architect, Birge Clark, who worked almost exclusively
in the Mission Revival or Spanish Colonial Revival styles. Consequently,
the other major buildings of that era, such as large commercial
blocks and apartment buildings, the main Post Office, the Community
Center and other civic buildings were built in the Mission Revival
or Spanish Colonial Revival styles. On October 22, 1940, the cornerstone
was laid for the new railroad station which was most likely designed
by a full-time architect employed by Southern Pacific. The new
station replaced the one built in 1897. The building is 215 feet
long by 25 feet wide with an arcade in front and a marquee at
the rear including two buildings connected by an arcade. The station
interior is consists of the ticket office, waiting room, rest
rooms, baggage room and a passageway between the waiting room
and baggage room.
Waiting room and mural by John
McQuarrie
Photograph by Judith Silva, courtesy of the City of Santa
Clara |
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The interior of the building features a mural by John McQuarrie.
Its central theme is Leland Stanford's dream of a University influenced
by a pageant of transportation. The mural depicts facts and events
of significance and influence historically expressed in the development
of California. This one-story streamlined Southern Pacific station
personifies the tendency of the 1930s to style buildings in the
imagery of transportation machinery, in this case the Streamline
train. The building has all the classic trademarks of the mode:
porthole windows, horizontal parallel lines to indicate speed and
glass blocks. Refurbished in the early 1980s, the Palo Alto station
has become a regional transit center serving Santa Clara County
and San Mateo County transit bus passengers as well as CalTrain
commuters.
The Palo Alto Southern Pacific Railroad Depot is located at
95 University Avenue (at the El Camino Real), Palo Alto and is
open during normal business hours.
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