Waiting Never Felt So Good

After passengers dropped off their luggage, they had their choice on how they wanted to wait for their train. And family and friends could also wait for incoming trains to greet arriving loved ones, or other guests.

Along the south side of the Passenger Concourse was a comfortable Waiting Room. The space is 59 feet wide and 108 feet long. Its elegant walls and ceiling of Spanish stucco contrasted nicely with a sky-blue and clouds-themed painting on the high and arched ceiling. The ceiling, which flattened out at the upper portion and had indirect lighting, created the impression of being open to the outdoors.  The end walls were decorated with four six-foot plaster bas-relief medallions of New York State scenes including a New York Central Railroad Hudson-style locomotive, the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, and the United States Military Academy in West Point. Large, marble-faced clocks at each end of the long room ensured that people wouldn’t miss their train.

Accessible from the Waiting Room were the men's and women's restrooms, both of which were finished with beautiful tile; a commercial rental space that featured a circulating library, news stand and novelty shop; and the women's lounge area. The women’s lounge was designed to be as plush and patterned as the most opulent theaters in the world. Low-profile furniture provided comfortable seating, and decorative panels enhanced the space with patterns of red, gold, green, black and gray.

Along the north side of the Passenger Concourse was the pinnacle of the Central Terminal's Art Deco interior: A combination formal dining area, a lunch/dinner area, and a coffee shop. The lavish eatery was centered on a rounded W-shaped lunch counter. The counter’s Bottacino marble facing and black Carrara glass tops reflected the red, green, black and ivory trapezoids of the interior. Black and gold-veined marble lined the walls. On the far wall, gold geometric designs graced the marble, shining below the mirrored glass near the ceiling.

Silver and bronze grillwork formed the dividers separating the three sections, with fine dining on the left, the lunch and dinner counter in the center, and the coffee shop on the right. Two hundred and fifty people could eat at a time in the space, which was 100 feet long, 56 feet wide, with 21-foot-high ceilings!

Photo courtesy of the Collection of the Buffalo History Museum. General photograph collection, Buildings - Transportation & Storage – Depots).