The Southern Railway Terminal stood on the neutral ground of Basin Street at its intersection with Canal Street from 1908 until its demolition in 1956, following the opening of the new Union Passenger Terminal on Loyola Avenue. Designed by Daniel Burnham, the influential Chicago architect whose works include the Flatiron Building in New York City and Washington, D. C.’s Union Station, the Terminal was a dominating presence on Canal Street. Before it was torn down there was some discussion of adapting the structure for use as a new main public library in order to save the architectural jewel for New Orleans. Though the Terminal is gone, its two neighbors, barely visible in the photograph, remain standing today—the old Krauss department store on the left (recently renovated into condominiums) and the Saenger Theatre on the right (still closed following the post-Katrina flood).

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