Latest Structures Page 118

El Garces Hotel - Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Depot, Needles California

El Garces Hotel - Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Depot, Needles California

In 1883 the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Needles established a West Coast link for the critical railroad freight line, and founded the City of Needles. One of the first buildings erected was the original Southern Pacific Railroad depot, considered to be a major stop on their Mojave to San Francisco line. Conducive with the design parameters of other first generation railroad depots, the depot was a single story wood frame construction. Often there was little distinction between the design of a depot and other auxiliary buildings used throughout the railroad lines, so the design primarily reflected the utilitarian and functional spaces dictated by the usage. In 1884, the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad line bought the rights

Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner, Lakewood Colorado

Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner, Lakewood Colorado

Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner is a particularly well preserved example of a streamlined, prefabricated stainless steel diner, a specific diner type that enjoyed considerable popularity during the middle years of the 20^th century. Historically found in greater numbers in the eastern United States, even at the time of its completion in 1957, Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner represented a rare western example of the type. Today, it is believed to be the only extant example in Colorado. The diner, with its contributing sign, stands as a prominent and well known landmark along the West Colfax Avenue commercial corridor. Completed in 1957, on Colfax Avenue (US Highway 40), then the main east/west highway through the Denver metropolitan area, the diner quickly became a

Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Station, Warren Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Station, Warren Pennsylvania

Built in 1868 and 1869, the Pennsylvania Railroad passenger depot in Warren was one of the few fine examples of brick depot construction remaining in northwestern Pennsylvania. The station had been unused since 1965, and its condition was sadly deteriorated, but it still retained the firm lines and character of its early days when Warren was the hub of extensive railroad activity, both freight and passenger, for three separate railroads. Several attempts were made to save the station, unfortunately it was demolished in 1986. The Pennsylvania Railroad Depot was a two story painted brick structure somewhat more than one hundred years old. As befits a building standing beside railroad tracks and designed to serve passengers boarding and alighting at various points,

Bedford Coffee Pot, Bedford Pennsylvania

Bedford Coffee Pot, Bedford Pennsylvania

The Coffee Pot was constructed in 1927 on the north side of Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, just west of Bedford, Pennsylvania. Its original owner was Albert (Bert) Koontz, who owned the automobile service station next door. The Coffee Pot originally had a one-story wood-frame wing through which entry into the Pot was made. According to Paul Koontz, Uncle Bert was always a promoter ... People were building bottles and other things to get attention. Bert designed it but some man from Mann's Choice (a nearby town) built it. Paul Koontz operated the Coffee Pot first as a restaurant (with the kitchen in the attached wing and the interior of the Pot used as the dining room) and later as a

Wigwam Village - Tee Pee Motel, Cave City Kentucky

Wigwam Village - Tee Pee Motel, Cave City Kentucky

A primary impact of the automobile was its broadening of the concepts of recreation and leisure. Unlike travel by train, for decades the most common means of long-distance transportation used by the majority of Americans, automobile motoring permitted the travel itself to be part of a vacation, not just the means of reaching a destination. In the early 1920s, autocamping became the rage and campgrounds sprang up all over the country. By the end of the decade, however, the camps' latrines, common showers and increasing patronage by itinerants brought about by the onset of the Depression had led to a loss of desirability to many motorists. The next step was the cabin or cottage camp, or the proto-motel. In a March

Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore Maryland

Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore Maryland

Opened in 1914, The Hippodrome Theater was the premiere vaudeville theater of Baltimore, was one of its first motion picture theaters, and is one of an increasingly small number of remaining buildings in the western area of downtown Baltimore which reflect the neighborhood's previous vitality as a commercial and entertainment center. The west side of Baltimore thrived as a vibrant entertainment, retail, and financial district from the late nineteenth century through the 1950s. At the time of the Hippodrome's opening in 1914, the west side district was well established as a bustling entertainment center. A bird's eye view of the area shortly before 1912 indicates the density of pedestrian, electric streetcar, horse and buggy, and automobile traffic already present at the

Hy-Red Gulf Gasoline Station, Greentown Indiana

Hy-Red Gulf Gasoline Station, Greentown Indiana

The Hy-Red Gasoline Station is one of a vanishing breed of roadside architecture. In its restored state, it is an excellent early example of this type of facility, the only such gas station surviving in Greentown, and one of few in the state. The Mid-Western Petroleum Corporation of Indianapolis leased the property and had the building constructed in 1930. The station opened in 1931 with Lavon Ayers as proprietor. In about 1939 the brand changed to Gulf, and it remained a Gulf station until about 1958. The station then became one of the Corner Oil Company's group of independents, with the Silver Edge brand name. The brand later changed to Deep Rock, a Kerr-Magee product. In 1965 the station became an

Paint Rock Creek Covered Bridge, Huntsville Tennessee

Paint Rock Creek Covered Bridge, Huntsville Tennessee

Paint Rock Creek Covered Bridge was one of the few original covered bridges remaining in use in the state of Tennessee. The structure was strengthened and restored for continued use in 1976. The covered bridge made its first appearance in America around 1800. An out-growth of the picturesque style of architecture, covered bridges were then subject of builders' guides and design books of the nineteenth century. Apart from the quaint, aesthetic charm, the covered bridge had several practical qualities which added to its appeal. The barnlike appearance prevented horses from shying at the crossing. Livestock could be herded through the open portals which were designed to resemble a barn. Many of these covered designs have outlasted the enroofed-type bridges, and some

Crystal Ice Company Building, Pensacola Florida

Crystal Ice Company Building, Pensacola Florida

Guy Spearman, a noted Pensacola brewer, established the Crystal Ice Company in about 1930. Ice manufacturing was scarcely a new industry to West Florida, having developed during the late 1860s in conjunction with Pensacola's snapper fishing industry. The household ice box also consumed large amounts of manufactured ice. By the 1920s, however, refrigerators began to appear in affluent households, reducing the need for manufactured ice. Refrigerators remained expensive, however, and in many middle and lower income areas the ice box was a common appliance through the 1930s and 1940s. Spearman oriented his marketing toward such lower income neighborhoods, and established three dealerships in African-American workers neighborhoods. The Crystal Ice dealership was a fanciful, but efficient building. The impact of the automobile

The Big Duck, Southampton New York

The Big Duck, Southampton New York

Built in 1930-31 on West Main Street in the Upper Mills section of Riverhead, this building, the idea of duck farmer Martin Maurer, was designed to look like the Peking ducks that were sold inside it. The location of the store on busy West Main Street provided the ideal location where motorists entering Riverhead's downtown would pass the large, 20-foot-high duck. The site was also a logical place for the store, since it was on the farm where the ducks were raised. In 1937, Martin Maurer moved The Big Duck four miles to Flanders, where it occupied a prominent roadside location alongside the duck barns and marshes of Maurer's new ranch. By the early twentieth century, the Riverhead vicinity, including the

Tee Pee Restaurant, Indianapolis Indiana

Tee Pee Restaurant, Indianapolis Indiana

The Tee Pee Restaurant, was an art moderne drive-in highlighted by a stucco-covered teepee, stood as a significant representation of 20^th century roadside commercial architecture in a state where such examples are rare. Roadside architecture is characterized by structures designed as a direct result of the influence of the automobile. Roadside architecture is most frequently associated with diners, drive-ins, tourist cottages, roadside parks, and the whimsical designs such as the Tee Pee Restaurant which mimic real or fanciful objects designed to draw the attention of the passing motorist. Due to the expansion of the interstate system and the popularity of fast food chains, many of the few remaining early roadside structures stand vacant and neglected; most have already been lost. There

Pan Pacific Auditorium, Los Angeles California

Pan Pacific Auditorium, Los Angeles California

The Pan Pacific Auditorium was originally built for the National Housing Exposition to further and perpetuate the New and Better Housing movement in Los Angeles. The design for the structure was selected through an international competition and subsequently won an AIA award. The designs were from the office of Walter Wurdeman and Welton Becket, two young architects who were later to go on to some distinction in Los Angeles. This building, one of their first buildings, is the primary example of Streamline Moderne in California. The Streamline Moderne was an especially important style in the social history of architecture since it epitomized popular notions of twentieth century modernism. It borrowed its imagery from mechanical and induiBtrial objects and from the design

Astor Theater, Reading Pennsylvania

Astor Theater, Reading Pennsylvania

The Astor Theatre, 730-742 Penn Street, Reading, Pennsylvania, was opened to the public on Wednesday, October 2, 1928. Built quite literally over the Arcadia Theatre (closed Memorial Day, 1928), the Astor Theatre occupied a location that has been a theatre site since September of 1891 when Eden Music and Bijou Theatre opened. For thirty-five years, the properties housed a curio hall, museum, burlesque houses, vaudeville houses, and movie houses. It was the oldest movie-showing site in Berks County; the First Victor was opened at 732 Penn Street in 1906 for just that purpose. William H. Lee, a renown theatrical architect of the day, designed not only a functional theatre but a temple of unsurpassing architectural beauty. There is a strong influence

Union Station, Utica New York

Union Station, Utica New York

Union Station was opened to the public May 24, 1914, and was built at a cost of about $1,000,000. The architectural firm of Stem and Fellheimer of New York City designed the building. That firm was successor to the firm of Reed and Stem which designed Grand Central Station in New York City and participated in the planning of more than 100 railroad stations and terminals throughout the United States. From its earliest beginnings prior to 1800, Utica had been a transportation center, being located at the fording point in the Mohawk River, on the junction of principal Indian trails, turnpike routes and on the Erie and Chenango Canals. The first railroad to central New York ran from Utica to Schenectady

Central Market, Lancaster Pennsylvania

Central Market, Lancaster Pennsylvania

On May 16, 1730 Andrew Hamilton and Ann, his wife, conveyed inter alia to Caleb Pearce, John Wright, Thomas Edwards and James Mitchell, a square lot of land, containing in front on what is now West King Street 120 feet, and extending of that width northward a like distance. This conveyance was in trust, for erecting, keeping or holding a market within the Town of Lancaster for the ease and conveniency of the inhabitants thereof and others having occasion to resort thither. Soon afterward, a market was built and maintained on King Street, at the south side and west end of the lot, and that to the north lay an open, space which subsequently took the name of Market Square, This

Watt and Shand Department Store - Bon-Ton Store, Lancaster Pennsylvania

Watt and Shand Department Store - Bon-Ton Store, Lancaster Pennsylvania

The Watt and Shand store was founded in 1878 by three Scots immigrants, Peter T. Watt, James Shand, and Gilbert Thompson. Peter T. Watt (1850-1921) was born in Stronsay, in the Orkney Islands off Scotland in 1850. After completing a four-year apprenticeship with a dry goods firm, he emigrated to Boston in 1870. While working there in a dry goods store. Watt met Gilbert Thompson (1846-1879) another Scottish immigrant employed in the dry goods business. In 1872, Watt and Thompson left Boston together to join the staff of the dry goods firm of Brown, Thomson, and McWhirter in Hartford, Connecticut. At Brown, Thomson, and McWhirter, Watt and Thompson met James Shand (1849-1920), also a native Scot. The three men began planning

Hager Brothers Department Store Building, Lancaster Pennsylvania

Hager Brothers Department Store Building, Lancaster Pennsylvania

According to the most reliable sources now extant, the business of the Hager Store was founded on the site in 1821, located at 25 W. King St., which is in the center of the block West of the town's square. The building was incorporated as Hager and Brothers in 1926. When the business closed in January, 1977 it was believed to be the oldest department store in continuous family ownership on the same site in the United States. The original old Victorian brick store building that occupied the front section of this site was demolished in stages in the summer of 1910, the Hager business was not interrupted for any part of the reconstruction work. On May 11^th, 1910, the Hager

Old City Hall - Heritage Center, Lancaster Pennsylvania

Old City Hall - Heritage Center, Lancaster Pennsylvania

Architecturally, the building, though restored in 1924, still has many fine Federal features in its dignified exterior. It is now the oldest (1797) building on Penn Square, the scene of many of Lancaster's historic moments. The building itself housed the Commonwealth offices from 1799-1812 when Lancaster was the capital of the state. In later years it served as both a city and county building, a meeting hall for the Masonic lodge, as a post office, and as a library. As the oldest building on the square, it remains a thread to Lancaster's historic past. The old City Hall was commissioned as a public office house in 1795, and completed two years later on the grounds that had originally been deeded to

John T. West School, Norfolk Virginia

John T. West School, Norfolk Virginia

The John T. West School, located in the Huntersville neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia, is an historically significant African-American school dating from the early twentieth century. It is rich in African-American history and reflects the progress made in the education of African-American school children in the early twentieth century. It is the first public African-American school in the City of Norfolk to hold high school classes for African-American school children. John T. West School was constructed in 1906 in the predominantly African-American Barboursville neighborhood located east of the Huntersville neighborhood, both of which have been combined presently into the Olde Huntersville neighborhood. Originally, these two neighborhoods were located in Norfolk County, just north of the city of Norfolk. The school served the

Chattanooga Union Railroad Station, Chattanooga Tennessee

Chattanooga Union Railroad Station, Chattanooga Tennessee

The Chattanooga Union Station was of great importance to the history of railroading in Tennessee. It was the terminal for the first railroad, the Western and Atlantic, to enter the state. It was also the first union station, that is, built by the joint effort of more than one railroad, in the state. During the Civil War, it occupied a very strategic position, and troops of both the Confederate and Union armies passed through the station on many occasions. In Miller's Photographic History of the Civil War, Volume 7, pages 35 and 37, captured Confederate soldiers on their way to Northern prisons are shown in front of the Chattanooga Union Station awaiting transportation. Many important leaders, both political and military, came

Book Title Abandoned Industrial Places: Factories, laboratories, mills and mines that the world left behind (Abandoned Places)

Abandoned Industrial Places: Factories, laboratories, mills and mines that the world left behind (Abandoned Places)

Book Title Abandoned America: The Age of Consequences (Jonglez photo books)

Abandoned America: The Age of Consequences (Jonglez photo books)

Book Title Abandoned Places: A Photographic Exploration of More Than 100 Worlds We Have Left Behind

Abandoned Places: A Photographic Exploration of More Than 100 Worlds We Have Left Behind

Book Title Abandoned Train Stations (Abandoned Places)

Abandoned Train Stations (Abandoned Places)

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