Thanks Frank and Ron. It was pretty minimal distortion for this kind of shot. And I didn't bring it up ;-), but it is a fact of architectural photography, unfortunately.

I go along with all the good things that have been said Helen. I wish you hadn't mentioned the distortion though. It hadn't crossed my mind.

Love it! Really a fantastic catch. Again the symmetry and the breaks of it make it so excellent. Great find and shot, Helen!

Thanks, John! What can I say, I'm an architectural junkie ;-).

Helen, it really works well for the theme. You think in buildings!

Thanks again, aam! Martin, I really appreciate how the Europeans don't destroy older buildings, but here it for a long time was the complete opposite. I've been reading this huge book titled "Capital Losses A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings," and it's heartbreaking when you realize just how much has been lost in the way of beautiful old structures of all types all over the city. And an entire quadrant of the city was once totally gutted for mass housing -- thousands of 19th century homes demolished. One thing I like about my neighborhood of Capitol Hill is that we're an historic preservation area and have like 8,000 old homes owned by proactive people who value them. For those interested in old firehouses, check out [link].

You did an excellent job, Helen.

Thanks for the linky, Helen, fascinating architecture. The reastaurant/pub idea sounds good to me, I could see it actually as a fish & chips place and those windows up there would provide excellent interior ambience. Or a studio too. Funny thing now that I think about it.... here, traditionally, old buildings are rarely torn down but rather rigorously maintained for the sake of preserving history. I could easily find a quaint space to rent and have a studio or something, but it wouldn't seem very unique. In your photo, the surrounding architecture makes this old firehouse look that much more special. I bet a lease for it is signed in no time.

Thanks jp and aam. I did adjust for distortion in PS, but actually not all that much (compared to what I used to have to do with other cameras and lenses). It was pretty OK on the left side, although the right side did exhibit distortion (the usual leaning in to the center). I cropped a lot of that, then under Transform used Perspective, Distort and a tiny bit of Warp. It was difficult because the building on the right has a curved bay, and something was a bit off (may still be, but did what I could).

Really like the earthy tones and the lines.

How did you get the lines straight, did you correct perspective in any way, Helen.

I follow Rod in all the concepts. Beautiful shot. Daniel.

Beautiful colours & clarity, you sure are getting to grips with the D700 a. Lovely picy Helen & a very good exposure with the snow around.

Thanks, Martin! I actually intended to shoot a falling-down house across the street that also is surrounded by high rises (owner obviously held out too long so they just built around him), but the light was bad and the house was ugly. Then I saw this and fell in love with it. This led to some searching on the Internet, and turns out there are quite a few of these old firehouses in the District, some of them still in use. This is one on Capitol Hill [link] that has also been abandoned.

Wouldn't it be? This used to be a derelict part of town, and now Mass. Ave. is lined with all these huge, swanky condos and apartments. Many of them have like a pharmacy or store on the ground floor, and I think an eatery would be perfect in this charming building!

These "holdouts" are always fascinating... in a way a little sad too knowing that some of the area's history has been removed and this is all that's left of it. Great job Helen, wonderful fit for the topic!