Building Description Union Station - Bus Terminal, Atlantic City New Jersey
Over-all dimensions: Atlantic City Union Station has a five-bay central block containing a single two-story waiting room, flanked by lower two-story service wings. The building is 160 feet long by 112 feet deep. The waiting room, the five-bay-by fivebay center block, is 78 feet by 72 feet; this section is two stories in height, and is higher than the flanking wings, but contains a single space. Each two-story, three-bay-by-fivebay wing is 42 feet by 70 feet. At the rear of the west wing, a 42-foot-wide one story section extends 40 feet north. A one-story covered public concourse, 118 feet by 40 feet, reaches from the one-story section across the rear of the building to the east side. The five sections together form a rectangular plan.
First floor: The large rectangular waiting room in the main block is flanked by service spaces on the east and the west. Public circulation from the city passes into the waiting room from the south, and out towards the bus platforms to the north.
The west wing is partitioned into a number of relatively small spaces. Ticket counters for Greyhound and NJ Transit face the waiting room along the east side of the wing. An east-west corridor between them gives the public access to the men's and women's restrooms, located on the west side of the wing. Separate spaces for Greyhound and NJ Transit dispatchers are located at the north end of the one-story wing, facing the bus platform. A stair to the second floor rises from a small vestibule with a door to the west facade exterior, and a door to the staff spaces on the first floor. The remainder of the space is divided into various support functions.
The east wing has space rented to a restaurant concession on the north end, and an abandoned and partially demolished space on the south end.
The concourse is accessible to the public from the waiting room to the south, and from Arkansas A venue to the east. The roof of the covered bus platform is contiguous with the roof of the concourse, giving the public uninterrupted protection.
The second floor of the west wing contains offices, locker rooms, restrooms, lunch room, and operators' room for the staff. The second floor of the east wing has been gutted and left unimproved.
The 25 October 1934 Atlantic City Press described the floor plan as follows: "The central portion of the building is the main waiting room, planned to facilitate the handling of large crowds visiting the resort, particularly during the Summer season. The waiting room is 75 feet by 68 feet, with a ceiling rising 40 feet. On either side are wings, each two stories high. On the first floor of the north [east] wing are located the ticket office, parcel room, public telegraph and telephone rooms, men's wash room and station master's headquarters. On the opposite side are the women's retiring room, lunch counter, news stand, and an emergency room for sick travelers.
On the second floor of the wings are accommodations for the railroad's train service employes [sic], including lockers and bunks to care for 24 men.
The railroad's private telephone exchange is on the second floor, as well as the office of the chief medical examiners.
Leading from the main waiting room, through a series of ten large double doors, passengers going to the trains immediately enter on to a sheltered concourse 40 feet by 118 feet. There is also street access to the concourse from Arkansas avenue.
From this unobstructed space lead the five train platform and the eight station tracks built to serve it. Each of the concrete platforms is 18 feet wide, and all of them extend westward from the station to a distance of 1400 feet, of which 600 feet is covered.
The bus terminal and the baggage room are housed in a one-story structure 110 feet long and 30 feet wide. There is an ample sized waiting room, with wash room facilities and ticket office. Adjoining the waiting room is a 50-foot baggage room, with a 10 feet-wide loading platform."
