I made it to Congress Avenue, Austin’s grandest north-south downtown street leading to the State Capitol. I’m near the corner of 4th Street; looking south, I spotted an old textured building among modern bland facades. I zoomed into the maximum 74mm equivalent with the Leica D-Lux 8, creating compression between the buildings and the—hard to see—couple crossing the Street.

The old buildings are disappearing from downtown. I talked about the warehouse district, which is nearly devoid of warehouses. Most of those buildings are old but not noteworthy. The ones on Congress Avenue are fancier. There are now laws in place to protect these bits of architectural history. The State Capitol is there, and a smattering of old buildings are throughout the central core.

Ironically, dirty 6th has many historic buildings, though the shabby bars and bright lights tend to hide some of the architecture.

Across the street on the corner of 4th and Congress is this building with a more enthusiastic-than-usual architectural flourish. Most old buildings along Congress Avenue have brick and stone detailing with flat roofs and don’t feature a tower.

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