30th St Station

Philadelphia


The grandness of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White's 1930s design for this station makes it worth a visit even if you're not catching a train. The enormous neoclassical station's main concourse, with its coffer 95ft ceiling painted in red, gold and cream, and marble-faced walls, is one of Philadelphia's most impressive spaces. Corinthian columns support port cochere (coach gate) on the station's east and west sides.

The east end of the concourse is overlooked by a giant bronze statue: the Pennsylvania Railroad WWII Memorial (aka Angel of Resurrection) was designed by Walter Hancock, who served in the US army as one of the 'Monuments Men' who recovered art looted by the Nazis.

In a room off the concourse's north side look for Karl Bitter's Spirit of Transportation, an 1895 sculptural frieze originally commissioned for long-gone Broad St Station.


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