Project Data 

The Amtrak Sebring Station (formerly known as the Seaboard Airline Railway, Sebring) is located on the southeast corner of the intersection of East Center Avenue and Sebring Parkway in Sebring, Florida. The existing train station consists of a single story masonry structure with a large platform (approximately 1200 feet in length and 8 to 12 feet in width), an awning suspended from the building and two canopies (one extending from the building on the north side and an identical one extending from the building on the south side) that partially cover the platform. 

The train station itself, including the platform, is owned by Amtrak, and the rail line is owned by CSX. This station is the third train station that was built in Sebring; however, the other two stations no longer exist. The important Atlantic Coast Line Sebring Railroad station (built in 1917), which replaced an even earlier station, has since been demolished. Thus, the historical importance of this last remaining station is all the more relevant. 

The station has been recognized as a historic structure and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was added in 1990 (Seaboard Air Line Depot, Old—Sebring: added 1990 - - #90000425. Also known as Seaboard Air Line Passenger Station; 8HG53, E. Center Ave., Sebring). 

Historical Background and Context

The Amtrak Sebring Station was designed by the architectural firm Harvey and Clarke and constructed in 1924.[i] It was articulated in the so-called “Mediterranean Revival” style. This style label is used to describe a diverse array of formal variations and motifs including those found in: ‘Spanish,’ ‘Moorish,’ ‘Byzantine,’ and a variety of other Latin American styles. Characteristics of this style include the use of stucco, coping on parapets, the use of arches in doorways etc., casement windows, and most of all the use of a Spanish style barrel tile (pent or hipped) roof. Also typical are bright colors ranging from pinks and light browns to a variety of oranges believed to emulate the natural colors found in Spanish and Spanish-American adobe architecture. This style was chosen by George Sebring and was based on his travels around the coastal communities of Florida – in particular West Palm Beach, where the style was ubiquitous. George Sebring favored the style likely because it was associated with affluence and leisure (partly due to its greater use of ornament as well as its association with the famous resorts in Southern Europe situated on the Mediterranean Sea) so he chose it as his preferred style. George Sebring even stipulated the use of the style in the residential deeds he sold for the first development of Lakeview Place neighborhood – hoping it would be a model community exemplifying his chosen style.[ii]       

Chronology of Development and Use of the Canopy

The original construction of the canopy is quite similar to what existed at the outset of the project with only minor differences. There was a substantial “restoration” of the canopy in 1997. According to the information in the Sebring Historical Society archive this “restoration” (as it was called at the time by local media outlets) involved removing the roof, stripping the paint from the wood, painting and rebuilding the roof. It does not appear that the columns were ever removed during this “restoration” or not. This seems unlikely based on the photographs and leaves us with the conclusion that the columns and bracketing system that holds up the roof is original to the 1924 structure (assuming some replacement pieces due to age and/or damage).

Physical Description 

The two canopies are of nearly equal size (approx. 150’x13’) and flank the train station’s main awning on its north and south sides running parallel to the train track. There are seven columns supporting each canopy and each has four brackets (except for the columns nearest the station, which have only three). Two of the brackets, arranged perpendicular to the track, connect to a horizontal cross beam that sits atop the column. The other two brackets, which are both parallel to the track and by necessity longer than the first two, connect to a girder which, connected end to end to others, runs down the entire centerline of each canopy. There are two additional girders that run the entire length of each canopy and sit atop each column’s transverse beam: at its center point, as well as the ends of the two braces or brackets that are oriented perpendicular to the track. On top of the three girders sit smaller rafters which hold up the bead board and upper roof structure including shims, fascia, sub-fascia and other roofing elements.   

Evaluation of Significance

All of the brackets, rafters and transverse beams are carved in a decorative manner specific to the main building’s original style (Mediterranean/Spanish Revival) that has directly reflected what was built. One certainty about this canopy is that it appears to be the last of its kind (by these architects at least) in existence. The others that exist only in photographsat other stations such as those at Polk City and Avon Park have all been demolished. Thus, the canopy is significant not only because of its cultural and historical associations, but also in terms of its “last remaining” status.  

Historic Rehabilitation

As a rehabilitation project for a building that remains, and will continue to remain in constant use as a railway station, The Secretary of the Interior’s “Standard for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings” will be followed. The goal will be to keep as much of the original structure as possible so long as it is structurally sound and practical to do so as per the specifications. 

Christian A. Hedrick, PhD © 2018

[i]The architectural firm “Harvey and Clarke” (Henry Stephen Harvey and Louis Phillips Clarke) ‘designed over two hundred commercial and residential buildings between 1921 and 1929, including 50 train stations for the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. The firm estimated that between 1921 and 1925, they were responsible for $7 million in new construction in South Florida.’

[ii]Stephen Olausen, Sebring: City on the Circle (St. Augustine, FL: Southern Heritage Press, 1993), 74.