Upton–Avenue Market Station
History
Upton–Avenue Market station was referred to as the Laurens Street station during its planning and construction, in reference to the street which intersects Pennsylvania Avenue nearby.
Excavation and construction
The Laurens Street section of tunnels at Upton–Avenue Market station were constructed in a cut-and-cover operation through deeply weathered residual rock from a parent granitic gneiss material. Extensive exploration and mapping of the subsurface conditions was conducted prior to excavation and construction in order to obtain a detailed understanding of the heterogeneous mixture of soft and hard residual material at the site. This profile informed the support and mining procedures implemented for the project. Classification of the residual materials informed the tunnel design, which was supported by liner plates, steel ribs, posts, wall plates, and invert struts; the final lining was made from reinforced, cast in-place concrete. The presence of hard, dense rock-like fragments among the residual material necessitated some blasting methods in addition to conventional earth excavation methods.
Artwork
The MTA commissioned artist Romare Bearden $114,000 to create "Baltimore Uproar", a 14' x 46' Venetian glass mosaic in the station's mezzanine. Constructed in Italy before being shipped to the US, the mosaic features Baltimore-native Billie Holiday and six jazz instrumentalists. Primarily based in New York, Bearden worked as a cartoonist at the Baltimore Afro-American from 1935 to 1937.
References
- ^ Metro SubwayLink Cornerstone Plan (PDF) (Report). Maryland Department of Transportation, Maryland Transit Administration. August 28, 2019. p. 15. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "Laurens station bid $36 million". The Sun. February 1, 1978. p. C2.
- ^ Myers-Böhlke, Brenda (1983). A characterization of deep weathering profiles in foliated, metamorphic rocks for tunneling and shaft sinking (Doctoral). University of California, Berkeley.
- ^ Frost, Julian. ""Baltimore Uproar"". baltimoreheritage.org. Baltimore Heritage. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
- ^ Berle, Jon. "A Look Back at the Art of the Metro Subway". MTA. Maryland Transit Administration. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
- ^ "Romare Bearden Biography". Bearden Foundation. Retrieved 3 November 2024.