Through the courtesy of B. L. Gilbert, of New York, the architect who made the designs for the new Flint & Pere Marquette Passenger depot in this city. The Courier railway commissioner was enabled to inspect them yesterday and given an idea of this building, as it will be when completed the largest railway passenger depot in the state. It is designed to be practical, substantial, and businesslike; nothing for mere ornamentation, the effect being gained by construction lines.
The main building is to be three stories, with a wing at each end two stories. The entire length of the depot will be 285 x 40 feet; on the first floor there will be a gentlemen's and ladies waiting room, each forty feet square, with eighteen feet ceilings, oak wainscoting, six feet high, and all finished in hard wood. In the ladies' waiting room, special designs have been made, for a mantle of Philadelphia brick, and red Terra-Cotta, eighteen feet high, ten feet wide and a large open fireplace, six feet wide and five feet high. There will also be dials announcing the arrival and departure of trains. The dining room, which will be leased by that prince among caterers, Farnham Lyon, of the Bancroft house, will also be on the first floor, 40 x 55 feet in size, with hard maple floors, marble counters, and hard wood finish. The floor of the culinary department, which is to be neatly fitted up, will be of slate. A large ticket office is to be not only commodious, but arranged for dispatch of business and comfort. It will be provided with three large windows, and ample ticket delivery accommodations. There will be two baggage rooms, 25 x 40 feet each, and two express rooms 15 x 40 feet each. In the center of the building there is to be a tower sixteen feet square, seventy - five feet high, for ventilation and to furnish light for staircases, which are to be all of iron and fireproof.
On the second floor a corridor extends the entire length of the building. On this floor will be the office of the superintendents, road master, etc., finished neatly, well ventilated, and commodious. The building is provided with four fire and burglar proof vaults, erected independent of the building, and in case of fire will stand the test. All of the flues of the building are double with inside fireproof lining. The third floor will be devoted to the use of janitors and help, with storage in the attic. The floors of the entire building are substantially constructed and calculated to sustain all the weight that will ever be required. There will be a twenty foot platform on the track side, and a ten foot platform on the street side with gas jets in brackets every twenty feet. The roof is to be of slate, and is now being put on. There is to be an awing ten feet wide around the entire building, and on the track side is to be extended over three tracks.
The building is to be heated with steam, and a brick boiler house has been erected at the east end, fifteen feet from the main building, for that purpose. All of the details of the entire building are made to harmonize, and it will be complete in all particulars. It will be an ornament to the city and a credit to the railroad company.
* Corrections were made to some typing errors.