Building Description Southern Pacific Railroad Train Depot, Lodi California
The depot is a single story, rectangular structure, measuring 24 feet wide (east-west) by 77 feet long (north-south) by approximately 27 feet high.
The perimeter walls are of wood frame construction. The exterior wall surface materials include, from bottom to top, eight-and-one-half-inch high wood baseboards and three-inch redwood tongue and groove drop siding. A wood band, approximately six inches wide with vertical tongue and groove beaded board siding above extends along the west, north and south walls of the building, as well as above the perimeter of the column arcade area. Wood corner boards are at all corners of the building.
Structural support is provides by the concrete crawlspace and piers, both on footings, that supports the one-story wood frame structure, including floor beams, sills, and studs. The common hipped roof structure, made of wood rafters, is carried by the frame structure and the iron arcade columns below.
Within the crawlspace's concrete perimeter, walls are evenly spaced piers that are supported on concrete footings. These piers carry the floor beams that support the depot's original wood plank flooring. The crawlspace area beneath the Baggage Room is probably closed off from the rest of the crawlspace area and packed with a solid fill to support the concrete floor above. The crawlspace area beneath the bathroom area is closed off from the rest of the crawlspace area; this area was enlarged and packed with a solid fill in 1950 to support the bathroom area's concrete slab flooring.
The original floor plan consisted of a linear band of five distinctive spaces. From north to south these spaces were the Baggage Room, Lobby, Ticket Office, Men's Waiting Room, and the Women's Retiring Room with both men's and women's restrooms located at the west end of the room. The Lobby was divided from the Ticket office by a long counter. A closet was located at the southwest corner of the Ticket Office.
In 1950, the floor plan of the depot was altered to accommodate modernized use of the structure. The major change was the removal of the wall (and associated closet) that divided the original Ticket Office and Men's Waiting Room to create a single large space, the Ticket and Freight Office. As a result, the floor plan consisted of four main spaces. The original Women's Retiring Room and men's restroom were enlarged by the removal of the wall between these two rooms and the original Men's Waiting Room, and the placement of a new wall approximately three feet north of the removed wall. The men's restroom was further enlarged, and the women's restroom enlarged as well, by the removal of the east bathroom area wall and the placement of a new wall approximately two feet, six inches east of the removed wall. A new counter became the divider between the Lobby and the Ticket and Freight Office (Southern Pacific Co. 1950).
A post-1950 addition to the plan was a rectangular alcove entered from the west end of the north wall of the Lobby; this space bumps into the Baggage Room. This alcove was reportedly a common addition made in depots to accommodate computer equipment. In later years, probably in the 1980s, the counter between the Lobby and Ticket and Freight Office was removed. This created a larger central space inside the building and a linear floor plan of three main spaces. The interior of the Baggage Room has returned its original elevated loading platform located at the west side slider door.
At the southeast corner of the Baggage Room ceiling is attic access. This opening is reached by an original wood ladder attached to the south end of the Baggage Room's east wall. The depot attic is an open single space with roof's structure left open to the interior. The majority of the wiring for the depot's electrical fixtures are located in the attic area.