Last Week’s celebration highlighted the 2nd restoration of the Atlantic Coast Line’s railroad station built in 1926. The renovation undertaken by the City of Orlando, in conjunction with the Florida Department of Transportation, Orlando Health, Amtrak and The Collage Companies cost over $2 million. This Amtrak station is adjacent to the Orlando Health SunRail stop.
Designed by the station’s architect, A.M. Griffin of the Atlantic Coast Line, in the Mission Revival style, the Coast Line’s top brass had sent Griffin to travel the Pacific Coast to study the Spanish colonial missions for which the style was named.
The building features twin bell towers, arched colonnade and tile roof. Located on Sligh Boulevard the station became Orlando’s homage to historic buildings in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Carmel and San Juan Bautista, California.
Joy Dickinson paints a wonderful image of the festivities on the day it was opened, and other historical facts in her article in the Orlando Sentinel. You can read the entire article by Joy Wallace Dickinson in the Orlando Sentinel at this link: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-joy-wallace-dickinson-0628-20150628-column.html