WASHINGTON – You may rush through Union Station on your way to the Metro or to the next train, but if you stop and take a moment, you may see why Travel + Leisure recently named the station one of the most beautiful in the world.
Union Station in D.C. is one of three stations in the United States that made .
The magazine highlights the station, “built in the Beaux-Arts style in the early 20th century” for the more than 70 pounds of old gold leafing in the station’s coffered plaster ceiling.
Union Station officially opened its door 6:50 a.m., Oct. 27, 1907, “when the Baltimore and Ohio Pittsburgh Express pulled into the Station,” according to the .
The station was completed in 1908.
The original construction on the building cost more than $25 million, with the Italian laborers working on the project staying in camp cars.
During World War I, troops mobilized through Union Station, with many prominent women working in the stations canteen: Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson.
In 1981, Congress enacted the Union Station Redevelopment Act of 1981 to preserve Union Station as a national treasure. The restoration took two years and cost $160 million.
The list of most beautiful stations on Travel + Leisure’s list:
- Antwerp Central Station, Belgium
- St. Pancras International, London
- CFM Railway Station, Maputo, Mozambique
- Sirkeci Station, Istanbul
- Southern Cross Station, Melbourne
- Kanazawa Station, Kanazawa, Japan
- Atocha Station, Madrid
- Union Station, Los Angeles
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai
- S
