The "Railroad Architect Extraordinaire" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Driving through the town of Columbia, Pennsylvania trying to find some reason to write a story about how Columbia might be known as the Paris of Pennsylvania.  Perhaps you read that story a few days ago.  

The Pennsylvania Rail Road Station in Columbia, PA.

As I drove along the Susquehanna River I took notice of the boarded up train station that once was a very active part of the town of Columbia.  When I returned home I checked out the station online and found it was designed by architect Frank Heyling Furness.  Ah, a new name in the field of architecture for me.  Googled his name and found he designed quite a few railroad stations in the Northeast USA.  

Mr. Frank Heyling Furness

His work came during America's Gilded Age of architecture with Mr. Furness' architecture some of the most flamboyant.  He designed more than 600 buildings, mostly in Philadelphia, but with a few in my hometown of Lancaster as well as quite a few of the railroad stations along the Reading, B & O and Pennsylvania Railroad lines.  Mr. Furness, pronounced "fur-NESS", was a captain in the Civil War for which he received the Congressional Medal of Honor, designed furniture and his best friend was Ralph Waldo Emerson.  He was born on November 12, 1839 in Philadelphia and attended private schools in the Philadelphia area.  He apprenticed under architect John Fraser and spent time in the New York studio workshop of Richard Morris Hunt.  In 1866 he opened his own practice in Philadelphia.  He was more than twenty years older than Lancaster architect C. Emblem Urban.  My wife and I found a few of the houses he designed on Lime Street in downtown Lancaster and also the Manheim, Lititz and Strasburg Railroad stations that he designed.  The following photographs show you some of his work in Pennsylvania.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Property at 24 North Lime Street in Lancaster that was designed by Mr. Furness.

Across the street at 43 North Lime is this home.  The brush makes it hard to view.

Train station in Manheim, PA.

Train station in East Strasburg, PA.

Train station in Lititz, PA.

Postcard shows one of his railroad designs in Jersey City, New Jersey. 

This is the Manayunk Station near Philadelphia, PA.

One of my favorite architectural designs is Broadstreet Railroad Station in Philadelphia, PA.