Ft. Payne Station Photo

Photographer’s Note

The sun broke through for just a couple of minutes between rain showers. I had given up on getting a descent shot when the sun broke through the clouds.
The Southern Railway Depot in Fort Payne, Alabama is an excellent example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture with its turrets, arched windows, and heavy stone facade. It was built in 1891 and served as a passenger depot until 1970. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, as building number 71001070 and inspired several original oil paintings by local artists, most notably James Traylor in 1976.
Richardsonian Romanesque was the first definably American architecture and was popular from the 1870s to early 1900s. It is named for the American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, and incorporates eleventh century southern French and Spanish Romanesque characteristics. Richardson was born in St. James Parish, Louisiana in 1838; graduated Harvard College in 1859; and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, the French national school of fine arts in Paris, founded in 1648.
This very free revival style eclipsed both the IInd Empire Baroque and the High Victorian Gothic styles and is characterized by massive stone walls and dramatic semi-circular arches over windows and porch entrances. Different textures and colors of masonry were usually combined on the same structure. Cylindrical towers with conical caps were frequently included in designs as well as bands of windows, recessed door openings, and short robust columns. Other well-known architects such as Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Eliel Saarinen were influenced by Richardsonian Romanesque. The Romanesque architecture was frequently used for train depots, churches, libraries, and other public buildings.

gracious, Buin, PixelTerror, Longroute, Budapestman, jlbrthnn, UlfE, gunbud, AiresSantos, Graymond, pierrefonds, snunney, Jakab has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

jplebrun (16768) 2009-05-05 16:26

Bonjour Asa
très belle cette gare de dépôt tout en pierres avec ce ciel tout gris qui fait ressortir la gare .
Amitiés
Jean-Pierre

gracious (20017) 2009-05-05 18:55

Hello Asa,
Great pov to have beautiful Railway Station well captured! loved the design of the station, very impressive indeed!
many thanks for the sharing and the notes as well
best regards
Tony

Buin (37326) 2009-05-05 23:28

Hallo Asa!
Nearly a little castle - built for eternity and obviously well-kept! ;-) I like that one still can perceive some structures in this grey sky. You show us an interesting contribution here...
Greetings from rainy and cool Germany!
Frank

PixelTerror (86038) 2009-05-06 0:10

Hi Asa
Nice station building that stands out even over that gray sky, too bad there is no train anymore to animate the view.
Have a nice day JY

Longroute (9133) 2009-05-06 1:00

Quite a good compositon of this interesting building. The only thing which is disturbing is that kind of antenna at the right. But I suppose in a railway line you can't avoid that kind of things. I don't know why they called it Romanesque, knowing it very well (most of the churches here are Romanesque) I can't find any connection to it...
Have a nice day,
Donato

Cretense (55528) 2009-05-06 1:16

Hi Asa!

A very beautiful architecture photo, great capture of a beautiful station! excellent low POV, great diagonal perspective, great framing and composition. Great light managment, too, beautiful colours despite the cloudy weather! Congratulations!

Hercules

Budapestman (41488) 2009-05-06 2:08

Hi Asa,
I like it this railway station with an interesting style. Really romantic mood, the composition is spectacular. Your note is interesting, Tfs! Have a nice day!
George

Ola_Kwiatek (2344) 2009-05-06 2:08

Very interesting railway station, interesting architecture. Nice light, very nice colors. Good composition.
Cheers

jlbrthnn (37505) 2009-05-06 3:55

Hello Asa,
It is a beautiful piece of industrial architecture, perfectly photographed in spite of a not very generous light. Pretty prospect. Cheer.
Have a nice day
Cordially
Joël

Greg1949 (8507) 2009-05-06 4:23

Asa, nice capture, what is happening with the building these days, is it used for something or open to the public? Nice detail and color on this shot also, fine work.

Greg

UlfE (8929) 2009-05-06 10:55

Hi Asa,

An excellent shot and very good timing with the lighting. The architecture is very nice and original. An your presentation of it could not be better. TFS and have nice day!

Cheers,

Ulf

gunbud (27741) 2009-05-06 18:34

Hi Asa,
Wonderful look at this fine turn of the century railroad depot architecture.
Rich textures and details to this marvelous masonery work.
Many of these grand old railroad buildings have been torn down it good to see this one still standing.
Regards, Tom

AiresSantos (41780) 2009-05-07 3:29

Hi Asa
Fine view of Payne Station in a rainy day.
Great POV and colours. Well framed and done
Have a nice day
Aires

trekks (14262) 2009-05-07 4:44

hi Asa

I never have a chance to visit Southern USA like Alabama or Missouri and it is nice to see something in your TE post from there to show the kind of architecture and scenery here. For this shot, perhaps you can do a bit of smart sharpen before you upload, say +10?

Very well written notes to tell a lot about Alabama. Very well composed view.

tfs, bill

pierrefonds (26039) 2009-05-07 15:33

Hi Asa,

The point of view is showing the details and colors of the architecture of Ft Payne station. The trees are framing well the station. The diagonal line of the rails is an asset to the composition. The cloudy sky is giving a good contrast to the colors. have a nice day.

Pierre

luighi (4060) 2009-05-09 4:58

Hi Asa , excelente arquitectura en este edificio que nos muestras.Estupendo encuadre y composicion .
Un cordial saludo.
Luis

snunney (34538) 2009-05-09 6:07

Hello Asa,
A great capture of this interesting and rather beautiful railway station. I like the panoramic perspective and the framing from the tracks, which puts everything in context. Pleasing soft light and colours. Well worth braving the bad weather.

Vasa (5302) 2009-05-12 16:45

Hi Asa, friend,

let me come back a little to visit this nice view on the station in Alabama. Worth thematic picture and architecture so different for a station, than in my country. Many thanks for sharing, friend,

Branko

Jakab (3446) 2009-05-23 16:57

Hello Asa,
the sun helped you capture the rhytm and surface structure of this building that at first glance has seemed so curious to me. Romanesque in a railway station? Then I have understood my surprise: the railway stations and barracks were built in the same style on the territory of the whole Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy (today Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Czech Republic), they were even painted with the same "imperial yellow". I must praise your note again which, as usual from you, is interesting, comprehensive and informative. A perfect illustration of what is TE for.
Congratulations!
Laszlo