NEW C. B. & Q. RAILROAD AND BUS STATION

BURLINGTON, IOWA

Population 25,832

Architects: HoLABIRD & ROOT, Chicago, Illinois.

Intermediate Terminal for C. B. & Q. CRI&P. T. P. & W. Railroads.

Terminal for Burlington Trailway Buses.

This entirely modern station was finished in March, 1944, at a cost of approximately $300,000, upon the site of the fire gutted Union Depot originally erected in 1882 Despite war conditions and materials shortages, construction was rushed to completion in record time.

This dual-purpose (railroad and busline) terminal of the unit type was designed for accommodation of increased traffic without destroying its original functional beauty cornices.

Structural Details and Facilities

EXTERIOR. The building is of reinforced concrete with monolithic A monolithic 16 cantilever canopy on the west side covers a parking lot and loading docks for the Burlington Trailway Buses. Vehicular access to this area is from the south (right) as shown in the plan.

Facing material of the entire structure is Wisconsin Lannon County stone.

To conserve critical materials, the railroad platform canopy was made of reinforced concrete (pre-cast), reducing profile, and there- by increasing visibility along the platform.

The weight of a typical roof panel in light silica, aggregate concrete, is 32,650 lbs. of rounded end panel, 33,200 lbs.: and of a column, 2700 lbs. Ultimate strength (specified) 3000 lbs. per sq. in.

At track crossings, a special dropped section of platform is employed. Concrete platforms are raised to permit easier entry and exit of passengers from railway cars.

Topographical conditions permit one-way drainage.

INTERIOR. The modern lobby-type Waiting Room affords a view through a huge window of skillful landscaping around magnificent old trees. The Waiting Room section of the station, 50' x 75' in area. has a 24' ceiling. The rest of the building is of two-story design.

The walls of this delightful room are of Montana travertine. while black marble (Radio Black) composes the trim, and is also employed for columns, vestibule walls, bases, and for the walls of the Restaurant.

Dark gray terrazzo with white marble chips serves as flooring.

Unusually large windows on three sides of the station give a wealth of daylight. To the north, windows are 20'6" high and 17' wide, and to the east, looking toward the trains, they are 11'6" high.

Window draperies of the Waiting Room are butter-colored and hang in graceful folds to the floor, harmonizing with the lounge furniture of walnut and white, upholstered for the most part in brilliant green. Some pieces are in gray. Tables are walnut with black cafolite tops and with built-in ash trays. Attractive lamps with travertine bases matching the walls stand on the tables. Tropical plants grow in various places in their walnut boxes. Dark green linoleum has been applied to the bases of benches and cabinets.

War limitations confined acoustical treatment to the Waiting Room ceiling, telegraph room, restaurant, and kitchen.

Illumination is far in advance of usual railroad station practice (indirect lighting in Waiting Room) and looks toward postwar installation of the latest fluorescent types when materials' restrictions are lifted.

The Restaurant is readily accessible from street, station, and trains. This room, with its lunch counter, is glassed in, and follows the same color scheme as the Waiting Room. Wall tables and benches are provided to accommodate groups.

The corridor contains public telephones and 8 recessed Cabinets with 32 Self-service Luggage Lockers to handle patrons' checking requirements.

Modern, up-to-the-minute, desk-type offices for railroad and bus tickets are most conveniently located to the Waiting Room.

A Women's Rest Room, the equal in appointments of any to be found in the highest type hotel or club, Men's Room, Bus-line Bag- gage Room, and several offices for officials complete the facilities of the ground floor.

The second floor is occupied by the general superintendent and staff, division freight agent, engineer, communications operators. and others. Here, too, are lounging and sleeping quarters with bath and toilet facilities for the railroad personnel.

Air conditioning, a future project, can utilize the rest room on this floor as a fan room.

This new terminal station, providing short direct passage

for passenger traffic between trains, buses, and parking lot, is considered to be the finest and most modern railway sta- tion of its type in the country.

"The cost advantage of the laminated wood," says Grant Voorhees, architect, "was the deciding factor in selection. We found by using glued laminated wood structural members a very appreciable savings in the cost of the school was effected. Of course, the beauty of the natural materials when left exposed added greatly to the pleasing, informal atmosphere which we consider so essential in today's elementary schools." Gene Hurley, contractor, advised, "Rilco really cut erection costs. The beams arrived on the job ready for erection. No specialized crews were necessary; carpenters did all the erection easier with the connectors furnished by Rilco. There was no furring, we just nailed the Rilco Deck to the top of the beams and purlins." Cost comparisons showed a savings of $500 per schoolroom over other types of construction materials.

  The Bishop Buffet was a chain of suburban eating houses, serving in Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. The first location was opened in 1920 by Benjamin Franklin Bishop in downtown Waterloo, Iowa. It soon expanded with other locations in downtowns across the entire midwest. After the 1950s the expansion turned to suburbs and alongside highways. 

The Bishop Buffet is now extinct. In 1983 it was purchased by K-Mart. The last unit was closed in 2012.