Thanks very much to noelcmn for providing the links to Photographing Buildings and A Guide to Architectural Photography in his announcement of the Project 52-6-17 thread and for making old buildings a theme of Project 52.
Thanks also to everyone who posted a photograph, and thanks for the historical information.
I apologize for any inaccurate terminology in my comments.
Ranking was challenging, and I respect any differing opinions.
Bill 2849 — I'm glad you captured this image while this amount of the building remained. I am especially interested in the area of the building at lower left, including the white paint or extra mortar around the window. The out-of-focus fence in the foreground is both a distracting and further testimony to the process that's under way. The choice of black and white eliminates any distraction from vegetation and perhaps from equipment which could be brightly painted.
Tamia — I like the texture and also the contrast of the reddish treads and the grey stones.
Daniel Darko — I value and respect your inclusion of the information that "Colours and contrast are probably all screwy as I adjusted this on my laptop at the last minute." I like the wall's and the bench's texture and range of tones .
patrick 9 — Thanks very much for including the photograph's technical information. This image is even more impressive because it was captured handheld in near darkness. I like the cropping, which emphasizes the structural width and presumably eliminates a distracting element or elements.
noelcmn — The deep shadows are an interesting element. If I had the opportunity, I would want to capture close-up details of the smaller arched windows and of the steeple's turrets.
mtux — I like this rich, well-composed image very much. My quibbles or suggestions are that (1) movement a bit to the left might have made the image even stronger because the tree trunk would have blocked what look like light fixtures atop the roof while allowing inclusion of the left portion of the white structure at the image's left and (2) the intensity of the brightest part of the solar hot spot in what I assume is copper sheathing.
Alkazalsir — The range of tones and colors is very pleasing. I wonder if moving a bit to the left would have made the image even stronger by eliminating the structure at right foreground.
First place: patrick 9
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/attachments/129-weekly-photo-challenges/2...ds-mansion.jpg
second place: mtux
tie for third: Daniel Darko and Tamia
PS: In upcoming challenges, I would be grateful for technical information (such as lens choice, apertures and shutter speeds) and explanation of decisions made because of challenging. conditions.