Fire Station #1 and Hilton – Austin, Texas
Austin’s fire station #1 is located on 5th Street, seen here in its Moderne architecture glory. It was built in 1938 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. If the elegant brickwork wasn’t enough, we have a wonderfully structured tree anchoring the corner.
The decidedly less elegant Hilton Austin was completed in 2003. The cavernous lobby had the dubious character of an airport — a 1980’s airport at that, built to a budget, before the modern airports that began sporting inspirational architecture. They’ve repainted the outside, which has somewhat improved its overall appearance. I have not visited the lobby recently to see if that’s been updated.
I don’t necessarily prefer old buildings over the new. I just like well-executed details and correctly scaled buildings.
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Princeton University is old. Older than Texas. Older than the United States. But each new building and it seems there are a lot of new ones built in over the last decade, is designed to blend in with the older buildings.
I believe, in general, the East Coast is more traditional when it comes to structures. They also have a greater appreciation of history and continuity. There is a not a lot of history in Austin or in Texas for that matter. We are much more into what is new.