When Birmingham's historic buildings are slated for destruction or renovation, comparisons to Terminal Station run rampant. In a time when trains were a popular transit mode, the station connected Birmingham to the rest of the nation. The station's "Birmingham, the Magic City" sign and the building's Beaux-Arts architecture often created a visitor's first impression of the city.

In "Great Temple of Travel: The Design and Legacy of Birmingham's Terminal Station," visitors will be reminded of Terminal Station's past and the possibility of the future at the Rotary Trail. The exhibit, which marks American Institute of Architects Birmingham's 50th anniversary, includes historical depictions of the station and renderings of the trail. It opened March 10, remains on display until April 10 and is the second of several exhibits planned as part of the anniversary.

P. Thornton Marye, who also designed Atlanta's Terminal Station and Fox Theatre, was the architect behind Terminal Station. The 1909 building was modeled in part on Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, and at its busiest served 85 to 90 trains daily. The Magic City sign was built in 1926 and remains iconic today, 45 years after the building was demolished.

The station welcomed President Warren G. Harding to town in 1921. Lamar Weaver greeted the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and wife Ruby in the station's whites-only lobby, a day after the Alabama Public Service Commission ruled that the rooms must be segregated. Weaver was subsequently ejected and attacked by a mob of more than 100 white people.

Birmingham Mayor George Seibels, who was in office during the station's decline, himself arrived to Birmingham via the station in 1938. But by 1969, train travel was out of vogue and the building was demolished shortly after the final train departed on Dec. 21, 1969. The site was considered a potential location for the Social Security Administration building, which was ultimately built elsewhere. Red Mountain Expressway was later routed through the property, located on two blocks along 26th Street North around Fifth Avenue.

(Related: Birmingham Then and Now: Exhibit to highlight Terminal Station, planned Rotary Trail)

Looking back ...

"You say Terminal Station, and everyone goes, 'oh, why did we tear that down?'" says Rhea Williams, executive director of AIA Birmingham. "We've got a lot of great architecture still in Birmingham, and we want to make sure that it's protected."

The exhibit, which includes historical drawings, photos and postcards, is a small but focused look at the travel hub's architecture. Terminal Station's original drawings are shown at full size, creating a striking introduction to the building. The 35"x60" drawings are larger than is now the norm; Hollingsworth explains that drawings were then created by hand, and so a larger building meant larger plans. Today's technology enables architects to pull plans into smaller, separate parts.

The Alabama Center for Architecture, in which AIA is housed, sits adjacent to the proposed Rotary Trail site, and so including the trail's plans in the exhibit was a natural choice. The result is a juxtaposition of the city's past and future, illustrated through architecture.

"We really try to show a connection from the past to the present," says Carey Hollingsworth, AIA Birmingham president and owner of Carey Hollingsworth Architect. "Fortunately we're seeing a lot of care these days to preserve the past. I don't think we've lost a significant building in quite some time, and I hope we never will again."

... to move forward

"The Terminal Station and the old Magic City sign are such great landmarks of what the past of Birmingham was," says Jason Crunk of Goodwyn Mills and Cawood, the firm responsible for designing the Rotary Trail.

The trail's construction contract is currently awaiting Birmingham City Council approval, Crunk said. Once approved, construction should begin within weeks and is expected to last eight months. The project will run from 20th Street to 24th Street along First Avenue South, and is part of the Red Rock Ridge & Valley Trail System. The system will ultimately connect Red Mountain Park, Vulcan Park, Railroad Park and Ruffner Mountain Park. It's funded by the Rotary Club of Birmingham in honor of the group's 100th anniversary, and it will include a sign similar to the Magic City sign.

Planning the party

A year prior to the anniversary, the AIA Birmingham tasked a committee of former presidents with developing ideas.

"We really wanted to take advantage of the public space we created to show architecture to the public," current chapter president Carey Hollingsworth says.

The group decided to use the anniversary to raise public awareness of architecture's role in a community. And when they learned that original drawings of Terminal Station were available, the plan became obvious.

"You say architecture or architect, and people are immediately either really engaged--'oh, I love architecture,' or they roll their eyes and are like, 'ugh,'" Williams says. "But at the end of the day, they do bring value to your community, your neighborhoods, your economy."

She points to her daughter's experience at University of Alabama at Birmingham's Heritage Hall, designed by Birmingham's Susan Lineberry Barron of KPS Group, where study nooks and other design features put students at ease.

"Students start realizing it," says Williams, who describes architects as problem solvers. "They study more, they make better grades, they make better students, they make better professionals."

(Related: Upcoming AIA Birmingham events)

Conversation by design

Former Southern Living executive editor and longtime civic volunteer Philip A. Morris funded the first three years of BPL's Birmingham Architecture & Design Collection. Thanks to Morris' investment, the archives department established a relationship with AIA. The department already included a number of architectural documents, but they had not previously been organized in such a way. Morris in 2013 told Birmingham magazine that the challenge ahead was organizing the material for easy access while filling in any gaps from the past 40 years.

"Design needs to be part of the culture of the city," he said, citing successful revitalization of cities such as Greenville, S.C., when the magazine interviewed him for its 2014 Groundbreakers award. "It was very clear that cities that didn't just let things happen, but helped shape them through good planning, good design, civic action and public landscaping, those are the places that became very much better places to be."

As AIA began planning its 50th anniversary celebration, the relationship naturally evolved to the exhibit's development.

"Terminal Station is iconic Birmingham. It's not the only thing we've lost but it's the thing we remember. Losing Terminal Station has saved a lot of other buildings in Birmingham," says Department of Archives Head Jim Baggett, who along with intern Andrew Nelson wrote the exhibit captions. Nelson led the exhibit research.

Baggett, Williams, Hollingsworth and others say they hope the exhibit will focus conversation not on what we've lost, but instead on what we still have.

"Whatever we do, we don't ever want to repeat that mistake again," Hollingsworth says.

DETAILS

Great Temple of Travel: The Design and Legacy of Birmingham's Terminal Station

March 10-April 10

Alabama Center for Architecture, 109 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. S.

Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Learn more at aiabham.org