Gare de Bordeaux-Bastide ou ancienne gare d'Orléans

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The Bastide railway station, with its carefully crafted architecture continuing Bordeaux neoclassicism, is one of the oldest in France. The station was erected from 1851 to 1853 according to plans by M. Darru, architect of the Orléans railway company, at the outlet of the pont de pierre on the right bank of the Garonne; it is the typical example of a terminus station with a U-shaped plan. Unfortunately, it has lost its train shed (which collapsed in 1950) and the monumental statue on its river facade. The station consists, to the west, of a single-storey building of seven bays, flanked to the north and south by two long perpendicular single-storey wings of twenty-seven bays each. At their intersections are two large square pavilions. Angle chains, round-arched openings with moulded arcs and projecting voussoirs, Doric pilasters, decorate the west facade. At its centre, two fluted Doric columns in projection support an entablature surmounted by a curved moulding on which, on either side of an escutcheon, elongate two female statues. The waiting rooms of the north wing have retained their original decoration: ceiling, wainscoting, cast-iron stove. Near the western extremity remains the small customs building.