30 Dec richard haas artwork for theodore link’s st. louis union station joins bld. 51 museum collection
December 30, 2025
in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Uncategorized
original signed richard haas painting (1985) of theodore link’s gargantuan romanesque style union station headhouse (1894), located at 1820 market street, st. louis, mo.
haas’s artwork was used for the cover art of barbaralee diamonstein’s heavily illustrated 1986 book entitled “remaking america: new uses, old places.”
backside (verso) has richard haas stamp and date.
St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark and former train station in St. Louis, Missouri. Opened in 1894 as the largest train station in the world, it saw daily peak traffic of 100,000 people in the 1940s before ending passenger rail service in 1978. Renovations in the 1980s transformed it into a hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex, with continued expansions in recent decades. The current hotel is part of Historic Hotels of America.
An adjacent station serves MetroLink’s Red and Blue Lines beneath Union Station, while the city’s main intercity train station is located nearby, serving MetroLink, Amtrak, and Greyhound Bus.
History
19th century
Union Station opened on September 1, 1894, designed by Theodore Link with engineering by George H. Pegram. It included a headhouse, midway, and a vast trainshed, originally housing 32 tracks. The headhouse featured a hotel, restaurant, waiting rooms, and ticketing offices, showcasing a gold-leaf Grand Hall, Romanesque arches, and a 230-foot clock tower.
20th century
Expanded in 1903 for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the station remained the largest American rail terminal through the 1920s, combining services from 22 railroads. Declining rail travel and increased airline use led to its obsolescence by the 1950s–60s; Amtrak took over in 1971 but left in 1978 as passenger service dropped. Subsequently, Amtrak relocated to the Gateway Transportation Center. The station earned National Historic Landmark status in 1970 and a Civil Engineering Landmark designation in 1981.
Conversion to festival marketplace
In 1985, after a $150 million renovation, Union Station reopened as a festival marketplace with a hotel, shopping mall, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Its rehabilitation is one of the largest adaptive reuse projects in the U.S., with the hotel occupying portions of the original structure. Hotel operators have included Omni, Hyatt Regency, and Marriott.
