I’m going to build the Milwaukee station for Walthers bit I have some questions.
Is it one or two floors inside? By that I mean should it be? How was the prototype or in lack of knowledge of that how would it generally be?
Flooring? I read that the station was done in a native American style. What floors would they have used. For me that indicates wood floors bit I have no clue?
Walls? See question 2.
Lights? What kind of lights, Crystal chandeliers? More normal lights, what would be appropriate for a station in the 50’s?
I’m sure some of our Milwaukee area modellers will have better info, but in general stations of that size had a lobby/waiting room area that was at least several stories high. Many stations that had decorative (and hard to maintain) features like wall murals, fancy lighting, etc. had them removed or covered by the 1950’s and replaced with more drab, industrial “modern” features.
Lillen, http://www.texaspacificrailway.org/?id=844&cat=13&loc=38 will give you an interior shot of a T&P Railway station interior from about the same time period. If you back up to the “stations structures” section of this site, there are many photos of depot interiors of stations very similar to the Walthers model. Hope this helps![:)]
There was probably a central atrium that was open two of more floors, but the wings and end buildings were two stories, filled with offices.
Native American would probably be a pattern in a tile, not wood.
Smooth plaster most likely.
Something ornamental in the atrium, probably wall mounted lights or low ceiling fixtures in the hallways of the office portions. I don’t see cyrstal chandeliers in any case.
I assume you have done a search on the station and on that period architecture.
I have a book called “Down at the Depot” that has a street side picture of the station taken in the 1950’s. The station was built in 1886. the caption has a description from the 1880’s, “…main entrance is formed by a triple arch supported by columns of polished granite. it is reached by a flight of easy steps. The swinging doors of polished oak are a few feet inside the arch, being surmounted by stained glass windows in beautiful designs. These admit the visitor into a large central hall, which bisects the building.” It says that it was replaced Aug. 4, 1965.
The station has a barrel celing I would suspect while not the same style, from the readings it would be a lot like the St Louis Station. Just not so opulant. From what I can read the color was brick red, cream barrel and green accents… It also had a gallery (like St L) that ran along the back (train side) of the station.
That is DECO if there ever was DECO, do it is about 50 years to soon. Deco started @ around 1900, but did not make it into buildings in the US until closer to 1932. Deco dies in 1940.
