Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Vancouver to Seattle

It sounds funny, but one of my favorite parts of the trip to Vancouver was the ride home. We took the train to Seattle to hang out with R's awesome uncle for the day. The train was so fun. Here we are in the lounge car where there were swivel chairs and little tables you could hang out in. We drank tea and ate m&m's while we watched Puget Sound go by.
The view was beautiful.
At the end of the line in Seattle we got off at King Street Station. The building was really cool on the outside, but look at how ugly it is inside. I just hate suspended ceilings.
But look! If you peek along the edges of the ceiling you can see all the way up to the original 45' ceiling which is much more beautiful. Look at the molding. Turns out, they're restoring this cool building to the way it looked in 1905 when it was built. I don't understand what was going on in the urban renewal projects in the mid-sixties, but they made a mess of this cool place. Why would you cover up this ceiling with Styrofoam? They also covered up the marble walls with formica. Seriously. Well, I guess fashion has come back full circle because now it is popular to restore historic places back to their old glory.
Here is one of the lobbies already restored. Pretty, no? It was designed by the same architecture firm that did Grand Central in New York city. It may be gaudy, but it really feels grand. It makes you feel like your train ride is going to be something special. So what do you think? Are clean lines and basic, efficient design better, or is ornate, intricate, and overt design more your style? Is less more? Is less less?
At least in this building, I know what my vote is.
There are a lot of buildings in Tucson that underwent major changes in the urban renewal projects and some that were built at that time to replace older structures. Maybe I'll go around and take some more pictures so we can vote on which we like better.

3 comments:

marge said...

It does seem hard to believe now that anyone would have covered up all that beauty.
The sixties were a crazy time.

Archaeology Ash said...

You know my vote!

Anonymous said...

How about the Art Deco theaters on Hollywood Blvd where you felt like Cleopatra going to the movies instead of the sterile little cubbyholes we go to now??
I vote for elegant ornate but not too Victorian frilly! Love the clean classic lines of Greek.