Still Standing: A Century of Urban Train Station Design

By Christopher Brown

This beautiful photographic collection of urban train station design covers a 100-year period from roughly 1850 to 1950. Striking original photographs chronicle 40 large passenger station buildings still in existence in cities around the world. From the great terminals of London, across the world to Auckland, New Zealand; from Toronto's Union Station to the grand and crumbling Retiro Station in Buenos Aires--vastly different architectural forms are displayed and presented chronologically. One-third of the stations included are among the best America has to offer. Still Standing: A Century of Urban Train Station Design outlines the history and development of large urban stations throughout the Western world. The basic physical forms and their evolution are reviewed in the context of the rapid growth of train travel. Christopher Brown discusses the arrival and impact of Beaux-Arts architecture in the 1890s and its profound effect on the American terminal. The end of the so-called golden era of passenger rail travel coincided with an architectural move away from the classicism of Beaux-Arts. New and different design forms appeared while passengers defected to other means of transportation. These dazzling public structures have endured, but the photographs imply a disturbing question: How long will they survive?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253346347
• ISBN13: 9780253346346
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 133 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 11.3" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

Still Standing - A Century Of Uran train Station Design

More than a pictorial shrine to the glorious railroad station, Christopher Brown's book takes us beyond the magnificent stone, brick and mortar to an informed cultural journey. While enjoying the book I experienced a disturbing sense of loss of something wonderful and endearing like learning of a beloved relative two generations removed. I'm on my second read.

A very pleasant surprise!

I was pleased to discover this book, and to find it was really more than just a group of train station photographs - as beautiful as they are. The writer/photographer simply yet eloquently shares his love of these structures - both in his writing and in the loving way the many station photographs are presented and framed. I purchase a lot of design and architecture books. It is not often this type of book delivers so much "heart". A very pleasant surprise!

Pictures worth a thousand words....

It is very seldom one finds a book on a specialized subject such as striking photos of train station architecture that is executed with such passion and commitment. The preface gives a brilliant foundation to this study which, in lesser hands, could have easily become dry and academic. The photos are stunning and the placement of the camera always reveals the design or the detail that distills what the designer of the station intended. The layout is beautifully done with a keen eye for color and layout. I love this book, and it is high on my gift-giving list for Christmas.