The Fading Away of Architecture

This weekend I took a train to Birmingham to meet with my family. Having never been there, I assumed (coming from Atlanta at least) that things would be in a better general state over there. Upon arrival, however, I learned that that was not the case.

This is a photo my mother took right outside of the Amtrak station, literally the first thing you see walking out. It's gut-wrenching almost to see what were once majestic buildings become reduced to places where photography majors go on a field day. While some buildings date back to the late 1800s, many were built as recently as the 50s and 60s, making it even more surprising that they would already be reduced to this state.

This photo pretty much represents the entire area of downtown Birmingham. Anyone that has been there will know that merely a fraction of the commerce and business that once took place is actively occurring on a given day. There are always those who will find appreciation for architecture in a somewhat-abandoned state, I personally find it a bit saddening that even near a major transit hub, there's just about nothing going on!