Tuojiang Off The Beaten Path

Fenghuang has architecture that I have not seen before, so it is all a little bit exciting to see it all. I am sure someone will write and say "Oh....you see that al over Guizhou or Jiangxi". Whatever.
The buildings of Fenghuang seem very unique (so far..I have still most of China to discover!).
There are some similar buildings on the plain west of Shaoyang back down on the 'plains of Hunan' among the timber framed buildings, but mostly these buildings were centred on Fenghuang, with isolated examples down the Wushui river valley east of Jishou and then again one or two examples in Huaihua and Jishou. Even in Maiyan, just twenty minutes away from Fenghuang, there are few buildings like these. One notable exception is the huge building - now derelict - right by the road tollbooth at the entrance to Maiyan from Huaihua.
The buildings are made from dark grey brick. These bricks have to be coloured this way with charcoal: at a roadside brickworks near Maiyan I saw normal red bricks being made alongside a much smaller group of grey bricks.
The lay of the bricks is also unusual, with smaller bricks used for effect, and presumably for strength. Sadly many of the newer buildings are just grey concrete with the mortar lines scratched on.
The building in the photo is a brand new structure on the approach road to Fenghuang, just behind the Wanming Pagoda. It looks like it might be about to be a hotel, which given its position, would be fabulous.