Sacramento Valley Station

Sacramento's Amtrak station, built in 1926 and one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Northern California. The building's terracotta tile roof, arched loggia, and white stucco walls look more appropriate to Santa Barbara than to a rail hub in the middle of the Central Valley, but that was precisely the point — California in the 1920s was actively constructing a Spanish mission identity for itself.

The station is a functioning transportation hub, served by the Capitol Corridor, the San Joaquin, and the California Zephyr. It is also worth visiting in its own right: the waiting hall has a coffered ceiling, original tile floors, and a scale model of the transcontinental railroad. The exterior is best seen from the Capitol Mall approach, where the full width of the arcaded facade is visible.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The station was built in 1926 to replace Sacramento's second train station, which had itself replaced the western terminus of the transcontinental railroad. The 1926 building was designed by Bliss & Faville in Spanish Colonial Revival style to match the romantic image California was cultivating in the 1920s — the era of the Mission Revival movement when California was busy inventing its own historical mythology.