Antique & Vintage Postcards

The grand Beaux-Arts facade of the Gare des Guillemins — Liège's main railway station — with tram No. 253 loading passengers at the forecourt and pedestrians crossing the cobblestones. The station seen here was rebuilt in 1905 specifically for the Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège, marking 75 years of Belgian independence; its monumental arched entrance topped by a female allegorical figure (nicknamed "Guillemine" by railway workers) was among the finest station facades in Belgium. This handsome Beaux-Arts building was demolished in 1956 and replaced by a criticised modernist structure — making cards like this the only visual record of one of Belgium's great lost railway buildings. Never mailed.