What odd and interesting structures do you remember or have seen?

[dinwitty]

 

a unique design of any kind of building, and this is a church.

This shot doesnt really give the full design of it, but the angled roofs, triangular design, it was like a modern art piece. Its the Ft Wayne Unitarian Church, I went there as a kid. I recall in a class we painted up the walls of the room with ultraviolet paints, tuned off the lights and voila...

years later I revisted the room, and they cleaned up the walls, but not perfectly, I saw some leftover painting remnants... hehehe that was crazy...where else would you be allowed as a kid to paint your walls... you'd be spanked crazy anywhere else.,.. 

[trainfan1221]

We have share of unique and abandoned structures around here, and all too many railroad related things. The Lackawanna bridges are works of art though.

   We also specialize in strange and haunted places, as anybody in New Jersey might know what I am talking about.

[Kenfolk]

Not too far south of the Wytheville, VA water tower is  a town with two water tanks on the hillside above, painted with "Hot" on one and "Cold" on the other.  Somewhere, don't remember where now, I saw a water tower painted like a golf ball, with all the dimples on it.

On an East Tennessee backroad I saw an old barn with what appeared to be a hang glider smashed into it, with the "pilot" sprawled across the front of the barn. Not sure, but I think it is near Douglas Lake in Sevier County. 

Pal's is a restaurant chain headquartered in Kingsport, TN that has  a large hotdog, bag of fries, and soft drink cup (with straw) as part of their unique building design.

North of Knoxville is an old gas station shaped like an airplane. 

[Edit:  In Florida, saw  an ice cream stand shaped like a soft-serve cone.] 

[trainfan1221]

They are called Tasty-freeze or Twisty-freeze or something like that.  They were all over when I lived in Fort Myers in the mid 80s.  I remember my stepdad and our neighbor regretting not having gotten in on their initial stock offering, they sprung up all over after that. 

[Rotorranch]

There's a cell tower in Jonesboro or Lake City, GA disguised as a pine tree. I got to get a pic of that.

Rotor

It's actually in Morrow, GA. That tall pine tree is NOT a tree, it's a cell tower!

Sorry for the poor pic. It was a little too dark, and backlit. I'll have to try it again in the daylight.

Rotor

[WP 3020]

Speaking of pyramids ,in Tempe Az the city hall is a inverted pyramid,yep standing on its point. darnest ya ever saw.

Tempe, Arizona's Upside-Down City Hall. The pyramid is 3 stories tall containing 17,650 square feet of municipal offices, including offices for the Mayor, City Council, and City Manager on the third floor. The 45º slope of the walls results in the floors on that level to measure 100 feet on each side, but the ceiling to measure 126 feet on each side.

Other inverted pyramids are The Pier, St. Petersburg, Florida and the Canadian Pavilion at the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal, Canada.

http://www.mistershape.com/blog/archive/2005_11_01_archive.html

Rotorranch, the tower actually looks pretty good. I had my doubts before you posted the pix. I can just imagine some woodpecker doing something you might see on a Loony Tunes show.

[steemtrayn]

[tomikawaTT]

Another Sin City example to warm the cockles of any model railroader's heart, the Palace Station casino, which is liberally decorated with 1900's-style toy train broadsides and smokebox views in overscale bas-relief.

Those cell phone trees are common here in Clark County.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[lvanhen]

Speaking of pyramids ,in Tempe Az the city hall is a inverted pyramid,yep standing on its point. darnest ya ever saw.

Tempe, Arizona's Upside-Down City Hall. The pyramid is 3 stories tall containing 17,650 square feet of municipal offices, including offices for the Mayor, City Council, and City Manager on the third floor. The 45º slope of the walls results in the floors on that level to measure 100 feet on each side, but the ceiling to measure 126 feet on each side.

There is a technical reason for this design.  It keeps the bird doo doo off the windows

[WP 3020]

Unless they get birds migrating up from Australia.

[Rotorranch]

Here's a better pic of the cell tower tree.

This would be an easy thing to model on a railroad.

Rotor

[Rotorranch]

I can't believe I forgot the Guitar House in Fayetteville, GA.  It was designed by John or "Elvis" Carden, (depending on who ya talk to). Both were pretty good musicians/ songwriters. John died last year in an unfortunate accident.

http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/guitar_shaped_house/

 

 

 

 

 

[Doc in CT]

Rotorranch

That tall pine tree is NOT a tree, it's a cell tower!

 

We have one of those just off the interstate in Windsor CT.  Really well done, especially situated in the middle of a stand of trees.

Would make an interesting "kit bash" with BLMA cell antennas and an "up scaled" tree (the real things do look somewhat artificial).

[Doc in CT]

 We have the "boat building" here in Hartford, a two sided glass office tower for the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Co.  It sits on pylons, so is interesting to walk next to.

 

The other building is our new science center.

The architect's rendering

 

And the actual building

 

 

[chutton01]

Well, as for 'boat' buildings, PC Richards didn't beat around the bush when it came to their 'Flagship' store in Union, New Jersey

'Bing' Aerial View

 

[desertdog]

Here are a few rarities that I have spotted over the years: in Bremen, Indiana along U.S. 20 there is / was a truck stop shaped like a coffee pot. In Campbellsport, Ohio (near Akron) there was a motel with a concrete office shaped like a blimp. In Casa Grande, Arizona where the only water comes from irrigation or an occasional monsoon storm, there is a building shaped like a boat, the "S.S. Blinkie." It has housed various enterprises and currently serves a local Christian mission organization. These and the concrete dinosaurs, donuts, etc. others have mentioned are commonly known a "dingbat" architecture. As for trees hiding cell towers, here in Arizona they look like palm trees. There is also a fiberglass radome over a cell antenna a few miles from my home that is made to look like a saguaro cactus. John Timm

[Philly Bill]

Love this topic, I'm a big fan of the Roadside America website.  Here's a few I've seen in my travel.

 Speaking of water towers, in North Jersey, driving through some woodsy suburbs near Holmdel, I came across a huge office campus with a tower near the entrance shaped like a huge transistor.  WHen I got home, I hit Google and found out it was the former Bell Labs research building, now unfortunately deserted, closed, and its future in doubt. 

Here's a link to the Roadside America page on it, which has lots of info, including this tidbit that brings us back on the MR topic:

4) In the 1970-80s heyday of employee clubs and lunchtime activities, an elaborate model railroad layout built by hobbyists filled several hundred square feet of a storage subbasement.

 Few years back, in Richmond VA, I stayed at a motel near this unique building, called the Markel Building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And since Lucy, in Margate NJ, was mentioned earlier, here's a pic from her official website.  Another train connection: they have a little bit of railroad track in front, and the gift shop is in train station style.

 

[nik .n]

 The Huber Breaker in Ashly/Wilks-barre PA.

 

 

Here's more.

[PASMITH]

A cantilever barn in a national forest in the Great Smoky Mountains. I intend to make a model for my railroad. Peter Smith, Memphis

[CSXDixieLine]

Those pine-tree looking cell phone towers popped up all over Atlanta right before the 1996 Olympics, although more have been built since then. It was a big promotion by AT&T, who was one of the Olympic sponsors. They also had billboards all over town with pictures of the towers and the slogan "This is not a pine tree."

You can't mention Atlanta and strange buildings without including The Big Chicken:

This landmark KFC is located in Marietta, GA, a suburb northwest of Atlanta that my CSX Dixie Line actually runs through. I have tried to find a way to include it on the layout but so far can't get it worked out. By the way, the beak opens and closes and the eyes rotate. It is also impossible to give directions to any place in Marietta without saying something like, "go up 41 to the big chicken and take a left to get to the town square." Right after we moved to Atlanta in 1993, there was a big controversy when the beak & eyes stopped working. The store manager claimed storm damage, but it was later alleged the manager caused the damage and made up the storm damage claim in order to get insurance to replace the aging parts. Not sure of the outcome, but the whole place was completely renovated shortly thereafter and has been looking & working great ever since. You can see The Big Chicken from I-75 if you are ever passing through.

Jamie

[Robt. Livingston]

 How about a railroad connection to the Hudson River?

 

http://www.oldnyc.com/w26st_yards/w26st_yards/Dscn0001.jpg 

[mobilman44]

Hi!

In my travels I'm always looking for old RR related structures, like water tanks, coaling towers, stations and the like.  Most are gone now and what's left are usually on the endangered species list.

Back in the mid '90s, I took a trip to Durango (to ride the D&S), and driving out of town (I think east), I saw a home made of two restored cabooses.  They were attached short end to short end, with plexiglas covering the vestibles to keep out the weather.  One caboose was a steel ATSF in bright red, the other was a D&RG Yellow & Silver.  I drove back and took a picture (its "somewhere" now) and always wished I had the nerve to see if I could get invited inside.

Anyone else ever see this???

Mobilman44

[farrellaa]

There is an old gas station on Rt 25W in Knoxville, TN that was built like a high wing airplane and you drove under the wing to get to the pumps. It is now being restored to it's original condition. I don't have a photo although I pass it at least 10 times a week.

Also, the Albany Mall in Albany, NY has a building shaped like a giant egg and it is sitting on a small pedistall. This building is part of the New York State government complex. I worked on a very large, accurate, engineering model of this building that was used by the contractor to help them construct the concrete forms, since they couldn't visulize it from the drawings. We mounted it on a large 8 foot granite surface plate with height gages that allowed them to scale dimensions to the real building. Quite a feat for that time (1970's).

Also, there are some books out about the famous Route 66 which has numerous unusual buildings.