Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel

Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel
Former names	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station
General information
Type	Hotel
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Location	700 Lackawanna Avenue Scranton, Pennsylvania United States
Coordinates	41°24′21.7″N 75°39′43.6″W / 41.406028°N 75.662111°WCoordinates: 41°24′21.7″N 75°39′43.6″W / 41.406028°N 75.662111°W
Completed	1908
Renovated	1982–1983
Cost	$600,000
Affiliation	Radisson
Technical details
Floor count	6
Design and construction
Architect	Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison
Website
www.radisson.com/scrantonpa
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Official name	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station
Designated	December 6, 1977
Reference no.	77001170[1]

The Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, built as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, is a neoclassical building in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was built as a train station and office building in 1908; closed in 1970; listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 6, 1977;^[1] and renovated and reopened as a hotel in 1983.

The building retains its original clocks, doors, fountains, stairs, ceilings, walls, and overall appearance.

Station

The station at its 1908 opening

In the early 1900s, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad president William Truesdale approved a plan to replace the railroad's Scranton station, an old brick structure located on Lackawanna Avenue near Franklin Avenue. The new station, to be built about seven blocks east at 700 Lackawanna Avenue, would be a far grander structure that would also house the railroad's offices, with the exception of the executive offices in New York City. The railroad commissioned New York architect Kenneth Murchison, who executed the design in French Renaissance style.^[2]

Constructed of brick and steel at a cost of around $600,000,^[3] it has concrete floors and partitions. The exterior is faced with Indiana limestone and it has an 8-foot bronze clock on the façade. The main entrance leading to the former waiting room is furnished in Formosa, a soft, pinkish-yellow Italian marble.^[3] Its Grand Lobby, two and a half stories tall, has an ornamented mosaic tile floor, a barrel-vaulted Tiffany stained-glass ceiling, rare Siena marble walls, and 36 unique Grueby Faience tile murals. The tiles are styled after the work of American artist Clark Greenwood Voorhees, and represent scenes along the DL&W's Phoebe Snow main line from Hoboken, N.J., to Buffalo, N.Y.^[4]

A tall radio antenna was installed after a while on the roof; the railroad was a pioneer in the use of wireless communications between trains and terminals.^[2]

The building, originally five stories tall, had a sixth added for office space by 1923.^[5][6]

The last train left the station on January 6, 1970. The building was shuttered and neglected, its windows cracking, the marbled lobby used to store old timetables and railroad ledgers.^[7]

Hotel

The Grand Lobby in 2009.

In the early 1980s, as Scranton struggled with 13 percent unemployment and a slumping economy, city leaders conceived of a redeveloped station as tourist attraction and rallying point. "Basically, we're looking for people to come to Scranton who would not come to Scranton normally," Mayor James McNulty told the Associated Press in 1982. "We want to give the hotel a dimension as a destination instead of a way station, so this can be some place to go."^[7]

The building was later purchased by MetroAction, a Scranton Chamber of Commerce corporation that focused on downtown development. Its redevelopment, the "linchpin of Scranton's downtown revitalization program", was ultimately spearheaded by The Erie-Lackawanna Restoration Associates, a group of private investors, and funded to the tune of $13 million through a combination of federal, state, and municipal money, plus donations from banks and other local businesses.^[4] The building was renovated as a hotel, furnished by Bethlehem Furniture Manufacturing Corp., and renamed The Hilton at Lackawanna Station.^[8] The renovation work was designed by Balog, Steines, Hendricks, and Manchester Architects, Inc., and won a 1984 Design Honor Award from the Ohio chapter of the American Institute of Architects.^[9]

The building reopened on New Year's Eve in 1983,^[5] ushered back to life by some 650 partygoers dancing to the Guy Lombardo Orchestra under the direction of Art Mooney.^[10][11]

The station renovation was just half of the railroad-related repurposing meant to enliven downtown Scranton; the other half was Steamtown USA, a museum being built on the old Lackawanna railyard. On February 3, 1984, McNulty stood before the station to welcome the first of Steamtown's exhibits to the city: a 350-ton Canadian Pacific steam locomotive chugging up with a baggage car and five passenger cars. "Welcome to the first day of Scranton's new future," McNulty told a crowd, which cheered.^[12]

In 1993, the hotel was purchased for $4 million by DanMar Hotel Inc.,^[13] which shifted its hotel-chain affiliation two years later from Hilton to Radisson.^[2]

DanMar began trying to sell the building in December 2004 to the University of Scranton, many of whose visitors stayed at the hotel, but university officials formally declined the offer in May 2005. DanMar ultimately sold the building for $7 million to Akshar Lackawanna Station Hospitality LP, a unit of El Centro, Calif.-based Calvin Investments LLC, which owned about a dozen hotels at the time. The contract was signed up in July 2005 and the sale was completed in October. The new owners pledged to spend $1.5 million to $1.7 million on renovations to wrap up in summer 2006, but the work actually took place in 2007-09.^[13]

The hotel is the setting, though not the actual filming location, for "Dwight's Speech" in the American television show The Office. Many of the show's cast members stayed at the hotel during the October 2007 fan convention and again during the show's public wrap party in May 2013.

As of 2011, regular passenger train service to Scranton is slated to be restored under a plan to extend New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) service from New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey, via the Lackawanna Cut-Off.^[14][15] The trains would pass the Lackawanna Station building and pull in at a new Scranton station on Lackawanna Avenue.^[16]

Gallery

• 
  The station under construction in 1907.
• 
  A horse and cart outside the station in 1908.
• 
  A 1914 photo shows the rooftop radio antenna.

References

1. Staff. "NPS Focus: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station (#77001170)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
2. Kashuba, Cheryl A.; Darlene Miller-Lanning; Alan Sweeney (2005). Scranton. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 38–39. ISBN 0-7385-3859-0.
3. "Lackawanna Station 100th Anniversary". National Park Service. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
4. Kemp, Roger L., ed. (2004). Cities and the Arts: A Handbook for Renewal. McFarland. p. 75. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
5. "History of the Lackawanna Station" (video). Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority. March 4, 2010. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
6. Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Station -- National Register of Historic Places Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Travel Itinerary
7. Roddy, Michael (December 30, 1982). "Repeating for All Needing". Associated Press.
8. Harry, Rich (June 22, 1986). "Union Station Battles For Survival / Allentown Developer Leads Drive To Save Union Station". Allentown Morning Call. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
9. "Lackawanna Station Hotel". BSHM Portfolio. Balog, Steines, Hendricks, and Manchester Architects, Inc. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
10. Graham, Vink (December 31, 1983). "A Giant Party -- But Police On The Prowl". Associated Press.
11. Roddy, Michael. Scranton is Converting Railroad Station Into Hotel Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 7, 1983. Pg 3. Accessed July 16, 2010
12. "National News Briefs". Associated Press. February 4, 1984.
13. Daily, Stephen; David Falchek (October 13, 2005). "California Firm Buys Radisson". Scranton Times-Tribune. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
14. "Lackawanna Cutoff". New Jersey Transit. October 2009. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
15. "NJ-ARP Annual Report 2008-2009" (pdf). November 19, 2009. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
16. NEW JERSEY – PENNSYLVANIA LACKAWANNA CUT-OFF PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE RESTORATION PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration and NEW JERSEY TRANSIT in Cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, June 2008.

External links

• Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel Scranton