The horrible tiles have been removed from what must be the slowest restoration project in local history:

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Now that the 1,600 suspended ceiling tiles are gone, one wonders how long it will take them to remove those suspended lights and the other hanging junk.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

15 replies on “The Old and Ornate Ceiling Returns to King Street Station”

  1. I was in there the other day, right before they tore that ceiling out, and was wondering how much it’s going to cost to heat that building, with its doors to the outside platforms that are open most of the year and its high ceilings. I’ll bet that was a big factor in putting the drop ceiling in in the first place. You can’t see it in this photo, but above the main benches were also a couple of spectacularly inefficient electric bar heaters that might have made sense back in the day when electricity was virtually free, but no longer.

    The saddest thing about King Street is, of course, the small number of trains that go through there. If there were more, they’d probably have to update their seat-assignment procedures, though, which also appear to be fifty years out of date.

  2. i’ve been keeping an eye on this project since 1996. great to see some progress. this must be one of those non-big business projects. the worst are the ones were city and big business “team-up”. i blame congress and the senate for every single problem facing america.

  4. christopher575 @3, yeah, it makes you wonder.

    To corroborate Charles on “the slowest restoration project in local history,” here’s a line from a June 3, 2005 article in The Seattle Times:

    On a Tuesday afternoon, an hour before the Empire Builder’s scheduled 4:45 p.m. departure, I arrived at King Street Station — now being renovated to its old stately glory, after decades of dropped-ceiling-tile grunginess.

    Can anyone explain what the heck took them so long?

    Fnarf @1, are you as concerned about the high ceilings at SeaTac? I can think of exponentially worse expenditures of energy than injecting a little grandeur back into an old train station in a region situated in a temperate climate that gets most of its electricity from renewable sources.

  6. The City only bought it two years ago (ten bucks and it was ours), and government’s had a lot of things on its plate since then. They fixed the clock tower first, then the roof. Most important stuff first, is the This Old House rule.

  8. @4, I’m not against the restoration, just musing about one aspect that most people probably haven’t thought of. And Sea-Tac isn’t open to the elements most of the time it’s occupied, and has modern HVAC systems. You won’t be able to have those in the restored station because they’d show. I’m curious to see what they come up with.

  9. Fnarf, as I’ve read it, the very reason for the drop ceiling was to make heating the building more efficient after the upstairs bathrooms and waiting rooms were closed to the public. I would assume they’re taking that into consideration now that they’re removing it. Air curtains at the always-open doors might be a good non-intrusive solution to keeping the heat in.

  10. What a lovely ceiling. Whose incredibly retarded idea was it to cover it with a dull expanse of blank tiles in the first place?

  11. The best way to insulate (and thereby assist with heating) most buildings, particularly large spaces, is to re-roof. If they’re smart, that’s what they’ll do – instead of adding the insulation below the beautiful period ceiling, rip off the old (probably leaky) roof, and insulate the fuck out of it.

  12. If anyone has ever been involved in negotiations with a railroad like BNSF, you’ll understand that this renovation is proceeding at the bureaucratic equivalent of the speed of sound.

  14. Fnarf dear, King Street actually has more trains coming and going than at almost any time in it’s history, except for World War II. Every day, there are four southbound locals and two northbound locals, two long hauls arriving and departing, plus the sounders and all the thruway buses. Don’t forget – King Street only handled the GN and NP trains. UP and Milwaukee Road came in across the street at Union Station.

    When this phase of the renovation is completed the building will be LEED silver. They are going to do a geothermal heating system and use the original passive cooling system in the spring and summer. Those old ceiling heaters were actually gas.

    There’s been some talk of Amtrak going to an airline style seat assignment program, but that’s probably some time off. Next time, just pry that wallet open and get yourself a nice business class seat.

    Geni, that’s a brand new roof on the station. Supposedly It matches the original in color, and approximates it in materials.

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