This weekend I went exploring in northern Indiana and discovered the beautiful little Beverly Shores train station. It is located on the South Shore Line, an electric commuter rail that runs from northern Indiana to Chicago, skirting around the southwest corner of Lake Michigan. The South Shore Line began in 1903 and stretched all the… Read More Beverley Shores & the South Shore Line
Although I am an architectural historian, I am an equal opportunity reuse fan. I love an old building any day but give me a clever reuse story of any type and I’m all in. Rails to Trails, a program for converting abandoned railroads into multi-use trails, is undoubtedly one of the best reuse plans in… Read More Railroad Reuse: the First Rails to Trails
California doesn’t just boast warm climes, it offers warm architecture to match. The Mission Revival train station in Davis has everything you’d hope for in a Californian building: warm stucco walls, arcades along three sides, and accompanying palm trees. But why Mission Revival? At the end of the nineteenth century, California architects began to look… Read More Mission Revival Meets Train Station
Art Nouveau is not the first thing you expect to see in Chicago. Aside from the nature-inspired of patterns by Louis Sullivan, the city broadly leans more in the Miesian direction–linear and glass. The flourishing, nature-inspired art style was not only short lived (it was popular from around 1890-1910), but to me it says “Europe”… Read More A Piece of Paris in Chicago
When I read early this summer that Chicago had a 120-year-old El station, right in the Loop, I knew I had to make a visit. I finally made the trip this weekend and could not be more excited to have found the gem that is Quincy Station. Quincy Station was one of three El stations… Read More Chicago’s 120-Year-Old El Station
On a recent visit to Chicago (where I’ve now moved!), I found myself in the western suburbs with an open morning, so I headed straight to Riverside, Illinois. I’ve spend a fair amount of time in downtown Chicago, but the suburbs are a different place entirely, especially if you’re on foot. Riverside is a cornerstone… Read More Exploring Suburbia’s Roots: Riverside, Illinois
The Southern Pacific Railroad Depot in Reno, Nevada, has watched people come and go since Reno’s early days as a railroad town. Built in 1926, the station was actually the fifth in Reno, following four that had been lost to fires. The Mediterranean style station is modest in size but its tall, arched windows echo a grander… Read More Preservation Success: the Reno Train Station
Susie Trexler 