The Tragedy of Torrance Roadstation
- Pretext -
The following article was written in AD 2020, in the midst of a great crisis. Within our shortsightedness and prone to future minds, we overlook the ruins of centuries prior.
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Previous articles on the topic of the Torrance Roadstation have chronicled many of the talking points divulged here. I am in no right, an expert or experienced in any regard to railroads of the past. Much of the story outlined is adapted from higher sources.
- Karl Bitter -
Karl Bitter was an immigrant sculptor who gained propensity through his dealings in the many American World Fairs of late 19th and early 20th centuries.
He was born in Austria in 1867, There he studied the art of sculpting. Bitter immigrated to America in 1889 and took residence in New York.
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Bitter gained promenimity after being selected to sculpt the bronze front Astor Memorial Doors at the Trinity Church of New York City. He was discovered by Richard Morris Hunt around this time. Hunt worked with the rich and famous of New York. Bitter made a name for himself, it is said he never had to go without work after the two met.
Bitter died in 1915 after a car jumped the curb. He saved his wife's life by pushing her out of the way of the incoming car.
- The Broad Street Station -
In 1896, Karl Bitter had been commissioned to sculpt many pieces of decoration for the newly expanded Broad Street Station of Philadelphia commissioned by Architect Frank Furness. This included plaster and terra cotta interior sculptures as well as quite a few terra cotta exterior panels. (Baer 12)
Spirit of Transportation
Formerly located in the Broad Street Station waiting room. Now located in 30th Street Station.
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Broad Street Station
On the left is the Furness Expansion (1893-1953) On the right is the original station (1881-1892)
Broad Street Station was touted as “the most complex and elaborate railroad station ever built” (Thorsch 129). Its Gothic-Victorian architecture was interlaced delicately with “handsome panels of relief work, designed by Karl Bitter” (Thorsch 129). Inside its marvelous walls, you could board a smoking locomotive and ride the two story tall viaduct out over the Schuylkill River.
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If intercity travel wasn't your fancy, you could take a gander at the largest terracotta sculpture of the modern or ancient world, Elements of Fire and Water Tamed and Harnessed in Service to Man. (presumably destroyed)
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Dparting from the station, you would witness the behemoth of a train shed that rose to 110ft at its highest point. It was the largest station roof in the world at its time of construction.
- The Fire of 1923 -
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on the fateful night of June 11, 1923, a fire broke out, engulfing the massive train shed. For two days the shed burned, leaving only a steel husk in its wake. The burned shed was taken down, it was replaced with multiple smaller sheds until those burned down too in 1943.
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the south train shed wall contained ten relief panels sculpted by Karl Bitter. After the deconstruction of the train shed, The ten terra-cotta sculptures were given to each applicable city. The only remaining relief currently known is the Cincinnati panel installed in the remnants of the Torrance Roadstation (more on that later).
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an internal Pennsylvania Railroad board report authored by Christopher T. Baer details the subject of the panels as historical “past scenes”. The 10 panels detailed; Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, St Louis, Pittsburgh and San Francesco. All cities mentioned were major destinations for the PRR, hence their commeraton in the gothic walls of the Broad Street Station.
- The Demise of Broad Street Station -
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after the fire of 1923, it seemed as if the Station's fate was sealed. The station was frequently backed up, and many of the PRR board members wanted to stop using the station and replace it with the Suburban Station.
The Broad Street Station was decommissioned in 1952 and demolished in 1953.
But this is not where our story ends- for a piece remains- tucked away in a forgotten corner of Cincinnati, Ohio.
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Broad Street Station (1953)
- Torrance Roadstation -
Constructed on a hill, lies the remains of a rail station once serviced under the name of "Torrance Roadstation"
There is a distinct lack of information of how exactly the terracotta relief panel by Karl Bitter made it from the fire of 1923 to the Torrance Roadstation. Michael McShea from "Philly & Stuff" writes, "[This] sounds like an internal corporate thing on which little published material is likely available".
