While I was back in my hometown over the holidays visiting family, I got a tour of the newly renovated
Burlington Train Station by my brother's wife, Sheila Ireland, who was the lead architect on the project (more on that below). Although I only had my iPhone, i took these photos which turned out fine.
The Burlington Station first opened in 1898 in time for the
Trans-Mississippi Exposition World's Fair held in Omaha. Designed by architect by Thomas Rogers Kimball in an Italianate style with massive granite columns evocative of a Greek temple, the station echoed the
classical style of Trans-Mississippi International Exposition. The station underwent a major renovation and re-design in 1930 to compete with the new Art Deco
Omaha Union Station just across the rail yard (
see this
set of photos shot a few days later).
Burlington Station closed in 1974 after Amtrak constructed a new station a block or so to the east. The building passed through several owners and unsuccessful plans for various renovations and adaptive reuses, including failed plans for office space and residential condos, until local ABC-affiliate KETV purchased the property to relocate it's TV station. Omaha-based architectural firm
Leo A. Daly won project and Sheila Ireland become the lead architect in no small part because she had done her Master Thesis on adaptive reuse of the Burlington Station. See this brief
tour of the station and interview with Sheila, which is excerpted from a longer
special presentation on the newly opened station by KETV.
Here are some
photos of the station before and after renovation from KETV. See also
article from the Omaha World Herald.
