Here’s a link to an article on Milwaukee’s Amtrak station in an architectural publication: http://lynnbecker.com/repeat/milwaukeeamtrak/milamtrack.htm
…I think the new proposal of renovation would be a great improvement. I also remember when that building was new and articles were printed about it perhaps even one in TRAINS.
David P Morgan did put the station in the lead story in “News and Editorial Comment” when the design was first made public back in 1964. The drop ceiling in the interior may have been a later addition and not part of the original design. At any rate, the original facade facing the street should be left alone.
My own view is that the depot looked better when seen from the east. But once the post office was built that exposure and that view was lost forever. The St Paul Avenue exposure, while it was the main entrance, was probably never meant to be the primary way most Milwaukeeans would see the depot, but rather from Plankington Ave to the east. And by the way perhaps what interested DPM most was that this was built as a “union” station, Milwaukee Road and C&NW, and as such I think it remains the last union depot built in the USA. The Milw Road had its offices in the building. I remember visiting as a kid to get my free “Hiawatha Club” button and some timetables.
By the way in the “our federal tax dollars at work” department, one wonders who in charge of the post office in the mid 1960s thought that mail would continue to be brought in primarily by RPO car when even then the handwriting was on the wall? The Milwaukee post office is horribly inconvenient for truck delivery and for customers – but perfectly suited to RPO delivery of mail which stopped in Milwaukee maybe even before the post office was completed. This structure should have been built nearer the airport
Dave Nelson