Sacramento Valley Station

Sacramento Valley Station is the second-busiest station in the Western United States. The Renaissance Revival style station was completed in 1926 by Bliss and Faville. In 1975 it was listed on the National Register or Historic Places. In 2006, the City of Sacramento bought the building and began developing and implementing plans to reposition the station as an anchor building for transportation and transit in the region. Sacramento Valley Station is expected to be the north end of the California High-Speed Rail system, and it may expand to include additional bus bays as well.

EverGreene conservators conducted a historic finishes investigation, determining the original decorative scheme in the Waiting Room and Room 150. Exposure windows revealed that what was thought to be Caen stone on the interior walls of the waiting room was actually scored plaster finished with a light brown sand paint. Conservators cleaned and restored historic stenciling, original decorative paint motifs, ornamental plaster, and historic stone.

The mural entitled Breaking Ground at Sacramento, January 8, 1863, for Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1930. Like many murals completed at that time, there was no varnish layer employed to protect the mural. Because of this, our conserators needed to stabilize small regions where paint was flaking from the canvas. Over the years, the mural had been exposed to cigarette smoke and post-historic paint drips, distorting the colors and overall composition of the artwork. Breaking Ground has benefited greatly from surface cleaning, consolidation, and inpainting.  Our conservators used an aqueous solution to remove the nicotine and other pollutants and inpaint areas of loss, returning the inherent beauty to the historic artwork.