More than 50,000 commuters stream through Hoboken’s train terminal on a typical weekday without catching so much as a glimpse of its long-hidden beauty.

Perched for more than 115 years on piers in the Hudson River, the terminal is one of the larger and busier transit hubs in the United States. Suburban commuters shuffle off trains there and catch ferry boats, PATH trains, light rail or buses to get to their jobs in New York City or along the western riverfront.

Most of these people never step inside the large waiting hall on the building’s ground floor, where a Tiffany stained-glass skylight and bronze chandeliers evoke a glamorous era of rail travel. And virtually none have seen the giant space upstairs that once held a 250-seat restaurant with mahogany woodwork, French gilt fixtures and a balcony over the water.

That upper level is a revelation: an enclosed space nearly 500 feet long and 30 feet high with views of New York City that extend from the harbor to the George Washington Bridge and beyond.

While almost every acre of the adjacent waterfront has been redeveloped, this prime spot has sat, shuttered and crumbling, for decades. A rare glimpse came in the music video for Eric Clapton’s 1996 version of the song “Change the World.”

Nearly 30 years later, the inside of the ferry concourse looked pretty much the same last week as New Jersey Transit officials led a tour of it. They were offering a last look before work begins to restore the space as a venue for live music and other forms of entertainment.