View source for Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel

{{Infobox Station
 | name= Scranton
 | style= Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
 | image= Scranton_-_Radisson_Lackawanna_Station_Hotel_(48472745076).jpg
 | image_caption= The front of the ex DL&W Station, now a hotel on August 4, 2019
 | line= [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]]
 | other=
 | platform= 1 [[side platform]], 1 [[island platform]]
 | levels=
 | tracks=4
 | parking=
 | bicycle=
 | passengers=
 | pass_year=
 | pass_percent=
 | pass_system=
 | opened= 1908
 | closed= January 6, 1970
 | rebuilt= 1923
 | electrified=
 | accessible=
 | code=
 | owned=
 | zone=
 | former=
 | services=
 | other_services_header = Former services
 | other_services = {{Adjacent stations|system1=Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad|line1=main|left1=Binghamton|right1=Tobyhanna|line2=main|left2=Clarks Summit|right2=Moscow|line3=Northumberland-Scranton|left3=Old Forge}}
}}
{{Infobox building
| name                 = Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel
| image                = File:Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station Lit up during the night.jpg
| image_caption        = 
| map_type             = Pennsylvania
| map_caption          = 
| coordinates          = {{coord|41|24|20|N|75|39|41|W|display=inline,title}}
| former_names         = Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station
| building_type        = Hotel
| architectural_style  = [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]]
| location             = 700 Lackawanna Avenue<br />[[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]], [[Pennsylvania]]<br />[[United States]]
| mapframe = yes
 | mapframe-custom = {{Infobox mapframe |shape=none |line=none |marker=rail |marker-color=#000 |zoom=15 }}
| current_tenants      = 
| start_date           = 
| completion_date      = {{Start date|1908}}
| inauguration_date    = 
| renovation_date      = 1982&ndash;1983
| cost                 = $600,000
| client               = 
| owner                = 
| affiliation          = [[Radisson Hotels|Radisson]]
| height               = 
| material             = 
| floor_count          = 6
| floor_area           = 
| elevator_count       = 
| grounds_area         = 
| architect            = [[Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison]]
| architecture_firm    = 
| awards               = 
| ren_architect        = 
| ren_firm             = 
| rooms                = 
| website              = {{URL|http://www.radisson.com/scrantonpa}}
| embedded             = 
{{Designation list
| embed                = yes
| designation1         = nrhp
| designation1_offname = Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station
| designation1_date    = December 6, 1977
| designation1_number  = 77001170<ref name="NRHP"/>
}} }}
The '''Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel''', which was built as the '''Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station''', is a [[French Renaissance architecture|French Renaissance]]-style building in [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]], [[Pennsylvania]].

==History and architectural features==
This historic structure was built as a [[train station]] and office building in 1908. It closed in 1970, was listed on the U.S. [[National Register of Historic Places]] on December 6, 1977;<ref name="NRHP">{{NRHP Focus|77001170|name=Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station|accessdate=August 30, 2015}}</ref> and was then renovated and reopened as a hotel in 1983.<ref name="other stations">There had been other stations in Scranton, each serving one of the other companies running passenger trains in and out of the city. These served the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Delaware and Hudson Railway and the Erie Railroad. See: "Index of Railroad Stations, 1480". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 74 (1). June 1941.
 The CNJ's West Lackawanna Avenue station was the last of these other stations, discontinuing its last passenger train by 1954. See: "Central Railroad of New Jersey, Table 1". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 87 (7). December 1954.</ref>

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

==Station==
[[File:Lackawanna Station Scranton Bunnell 1908.jpg|thumb|right|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 MacKenzie Murchison]], who executed the design in a neoclassical style reminiscent of the [[Ecole des Beaux-Arts]] in [[Paris]], where he had been trained.<ref name="Scranton">{{cite book |title=Scranton |last=Kashuba |first=Cheryl A. |author2=Darlene Miller-Lanning |author3=Alan Sweeney |year=2005 |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |location=[[Mount Pleasant, South Carolina|Mount Pleasant, SC]] |isbn=0-7385-3859-0 |pages=38–39 }}</ref>

Constructed of brick and steel at a cost of around $600,000,<ref name="nps" /> it has concrete floors and partitions. The exterior is faced with Indiana limestone and it has an eight-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.<ref name="nps">{{cite web | title = Lackawanna Station 100th Anniversary| publisher = National Park Service | url = http://www.nps.gov/stea/planyourvisit/lackawanna-station-100th-anniversary.htm| accessdate = October 14, 2011}}</ref> Its Grand Lobby, two-and-a-half stories tall, has an ornamented mosaic tile floor, a barrel-vaulted [[Tiffany glass|Tiffany stained-glass]] ceiling, rare [[Siena]] marble walls, and 36 unique [[Grueby Faience Company|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 (passenger train)|Phoebe Snow]]'' main line from Hoboken, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York.<ref name="cities" />

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.<ref name="Scranton" />

The building, which was originally five stories tall, had a sixth added for office space by 1923.<ref name="video">{{cite web | title = History of the Lackawanna Station | publisher = Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority| date = March 4, 2010 | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtea9H5Hjs | format = video | accessdate = October 22, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/delaware/wrr.htm Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Station -- National Register of Historic Places Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Travel Itinerary]</ref>

The last train, the [[Erie Lackawanna]]'s ''[[Lake Cities (train)|Lake Cities]],'' left the station on January 6, 1970. The building was shuttered and neglected, its windows cracking. The marbled lobby was used to store old timetables and railroad ledgers.<ref name="roddy">{{cite news |title= Repeating for All Needing |first= Michael|last=Roddy |newspaper= Associated Press|date= December 30, 1982}}</ref> The dilapidated exterior can be seen briefly in the movie ''[[That Championship Season (1982 film)|That Championship Season]]'', which was released shortly before the renovations.

===Passenger services===
Into the mid-1960s, the station served several passenger [[Erie Lackawanna Railroad]] (successor to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western) trains:<ref>Erie Lackawanna Railroad timetable, December 6, 1964, Table 1</ref>
*''[[Phoebe Snow (train)|Phoebe Snow]]'' (Hoboken-Buffalo)
*''Owl'' (westbound) / ''New York Mail'' (eastbound) (night train, Hoboken-Buffalo)
*''[[Lake Cities (train)|Lake Cities]]'' (night train, Hoboken-Chicago)
*''Pocono Express'' (westbound) / ''Twilight'' (eastbound) (Hoboken-Scranton, in 1950s to Buffalo)

Additionally, in earlier years, there was the ''Keystone Express''/''Pittsburgh Express'' (night train to Pittsburgh via Kingston, Bloomsburg and Harrisburg) and unnamed trains to Utica and to Oswego via Syracuse.<ref>Lackawanna Railroad timetable, January 3, 1949</ref>

==Hotel==
[[File:The Radisson at Lackawanna Station.jpg|thumb|right|The Grand Lobby in 2009.]]
During 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 of Scranton, Pennsylvania|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."<ref name="roddy" />

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.<ref name="cities">{{cite book |title=Cities and the Arts: A Handbook for Renewal
| editor1-first= Roger L.|editor1-last=Kemp|year= 2004|publisher=McFarland |page= 75| isbn= 9780786420070|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNGG2g0Dl58C&dq=scranton+lackawanna+station&pg=PA75 |accessdate=October 13, 2011}}</ref> The building was renovated as a hotel, furnished by Bethlehem Furniture Manufacturing Corp., and renamed The [[Hilton Hotels|Hilton]] at Lackawanna Station.<ref name="amc06221986">{{cite news |title= Union Station Battles For Survival / Allentown Developer Leads Drive To Save Union Station|first= Rich|last=Harry |newspaper=Allentown Morning Call |date=June 22, 1986 |url= https://www.mcall.com/1986/06/22/union-station-battles-for-survival-allentown-developer-leads-drive-to-save-union-station/|access-date=October 22, 2011}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="bshm">{{cite web | title = Lackawanna Station Hotel| work = BSHM Portfolio| publisher =Balog, Steines, Hendricks, and Manchester Architects, Inc. | url = http://www.bshmarchitects.com/portfolio.asp?action=viewdetails&id=68| accessdate = October 22, 2011}}</ref>

The building reopened on New Year's Eve 1983,<ref name="video" /> ushered back to life by some 650 partygoers dancing to the [[Guy Lombardo|Guy Lombardo Orchestra]] under the direction of [[Art Mooney]].<ref name="vink">{{cite news |title=A Giant Party -- But Police On The Prowl |first= Vink|last=Graham |newspaper=Associated Press |date= December 31, 1983}}</ref><ref name="RoddyPPG">Roddy, Michael. ''[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KkUNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5100,1251113&dq=steamtown&hl=en Scranton is Converting Railroad Station Into Hotel]'' Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 7, 1983. Pg 3. Accessed July 16, 2010</ref>

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 site of the old Lackawanna railyard and shops. 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.<ref name="briefs">{{cite news |title= National News Briefs |newspaper= Associated Press |date= February 4, 1984}}</ref>

In 1993, the hotel was purchased for $4 million by [[DanMar Hotel Inc.]],<ref name="tt10052005">{{cite news |title= California Firm Buys Radisson | first= Stephen |last= Daily |author2= David Falchek |newspaper= Scranton Times-Tribune|date= October 13, 2005|url= http://www.railfan.net/lists/erielack-digest/200510/msg00318.html|accessdate= October 22, 2011}}</ref> which shifted its hotel-chain affiliation two years later from Hilton to [[Radisson Hotels|Radisson]].<ref name="Scranton" />
 
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 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 through 2009.<ref name="tt10052005" />

The hotel was the setting, though not the actual filming location, for "[[Dwight's Speech]]" in the American television show ''[[The Office (U.S. TV series)|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.

Passenger train service to Scranton may be restored by future phases of the [[Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project]], which could extend [[New Jersey Transit]] (NJ Transit) service from [[New York City]] and Hoboken via the [[Lackawanna Cut-Off]].<ref name="njt">
{{cite web |url=http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=Project019To|title=Lackawanna Cutoff |publisher=New Jersey Transit |access-date=13 June 2020 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913224750/http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=Project019To|archive-date=13 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="njarp_2009">{{Cite web|title=NJ-ARP Annual Report 2008-2009|date=November 19, 2009|url=http://www.nj-arp.org/annrpt_09.pdf|accessdate=13 June 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101043557/http://www.nj-arp.org/annrpt_09.pdf|archive-date=January 1, 2011}}</ref> The trains would pass the old Lackawanna Station building and pull in at [[Scranton (NJT station)|a new Scranton station]] on Lackawanna Avenue.<ref>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.</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lackawanna Scranton station under construction 1907.png|The station under construction in 1907.
File:Lackawanna Station Scranton Bunnell 1908 street.jpg|A horse and carriage outside the station in 1908.
File:Lackawanna Station Scranton 1914.png|A 1914 photo shows the rooftop radio antenna.
File:D.L. & W. R.R. yards, Scranton, Pa. between 1890 and 1901.jpg|The old station the current building replaced seen on the right, sometime between 1890 and 1901.
File:Lackawanna P6230442.jpg|Trackside of the hotel/former station on June 23, 2011. The former canopy once housed two stub-end tracks and is now used for parking space. Parking in the foreground now occupies space where two through tracks stood along with part of the canopy that has since been demolished.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Scranton station (Central Railroad of New Jersey)]]

==References==
{{reflist|35em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station (Scranton, Pennsylvania)}}
* [http://www.radisson.com/scrantonpa Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel Scranton]

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania}}

{{EL Main Line stations}}

[[Category:Hotels in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1908]]
[[Category:Office buildings completed in 1908]]
[[Category:Radisson Hotels]]
[[Category:Railway hotels in the United States]]
[[Category:Hotels established in 1983]]
[[Category:Former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad stations]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Scranton, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:1908 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Former railway stations in Pennsylvania]]