horizontal skyscrapers.

I drive by this building many times a week, it's ark-like structure a true landmark in my town. It has stood there for over 130 years. And it makes me wonder..

I instruct children at the St.Thomas-Elgin Public Arts Centre, a non-profit organization on Talbot Street in St.Thomas, Ontario. We promote art education, host art exhibitions by local, national and international artists, hold special events . I instruct the Shutterbugs program for children ages 8-12, and Photography 2 for children aged 13+.

As residents of the Railway Capital of Canada, we were invited to take a tour of the Canada Southern Railway Museum. As Chris, our tour guide, showed us around what was once a bustling railway station and the headquarters of the Canadian Southern Railway, I was in awe of the architectural elements that still adorn it - its' gabled roof, the heavy cornices, the iron pillars in Italianate style. I pictured the men puffing cigars in the gentleman's parlour, and the ladies and children in the breezeway. I saw the dining room full of hungry passengers, the little boy shining shoes on the railway platform. It felt alive again.

So here are some interesting facts my and my Shutterbugs learned from our tour:

>>Passengers traveling between New York and Chicago could have breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea in the Grand Dining Room. Some who dined here were: Lucille Ball, W.C.Fields, Benny Goodman and Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees to name a few...

>>the St.Thomas railways connected the trains to major U.S. cities such as New York, Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago.

>>Menus were reviewed on the train, the conductor would take orders and send a telegraph to the Station. When the guests arrived, the meals would be ready. The waitresses actually had dormitories upstairs above the kitchen.

>>the Station had a jail (holding cells) for unruly passengers and pickpockets, as well as a barber shop.

So many facts, and as we were toured through the building, which is now being restored to its' former days and funded by The Heritage Canada Foundation, I was in utter amazement. Wedding receptions have already been hosted from its' Grand Dining Room and I can't wait to photograph an event in its' beautiful setting.

We took photographs. Lots of them. My lesson from the class prior to our tour was on architectural photography - focusing on details, patterns and texture. I brought my 50mm and snapped a few.




















































The photographs of the bird on the door frame was taken in the Grand Dining Room. I lovingly call these pieces "Lucille", because if I believed in reincarnation, I guarantee it was Lucille Ball gracefully perched there, reminiscing. My 'Lucille' series will grace my dining rooms at home.

I learned that skyscrapers come not only in vertical form, but also horizontal as well. The Station's grandeur is not only an accurate description of its' size, but also its' richness of history and character.

This 'horizontal skyscraper' is truly a wonderful place.