Owned by Genesee & Wyoming Parking Yes Owner Genesee & Wyoming | Tracks 1 Opened 1866 | |
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Location 2 Federal Street
St. Albans, Vermont 05478 Line(s) New England Central Railroad | ||
The Central Vermont Railroad office, is a historic railroad headquarters building at 2 Federal Street in St. Albans, Vermont. Built in 1866 by the Central Vermont Railroad, it has since 1995 been used by the New England Central Railroad.
History
The building, built in 1866, is a large three-story red brick Second Empire structure. It became the head office for the regional railroad’s central offices. At that time, an ornate brick-faced train shed abutted its western side where the parking lot is today. Trains entered the shed through four arched tunnels at the curvilinear-gabled ends. A tower capped with a tent spire supported the southwest corner opposite the tower on the station. The building has two square towers, one at each of its southern corners, each with two double windows on both sides of the first two floors and four on the third floor. The towers rise above the mass of the building, capped with mansard roofs, at one time having both chimneys and round ornamented skylights.
The front façade between the towers has two floors with double arched windows, and the mansard roof is pierced by three round-headed dormers. Originally, there were fireplaces in every room of the station, so the front façade also had four chimneys interspersing the dormers. The chimneys were removed in 1915 when central heat was put in. The tower on the train shed came down in 1923, and the shed itself was razed in 1963, as it was costing the owner, then the Canadian National Railway, too much to maintain. The local historic preservation society started up in 1970, and they ensured that the remaining building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 1974, along with the other buildings of the Central Vermont Railroad Headquarters.
St. Albans' current Amtrak station is another building in the former Central Vermont complex, built about 1900 as a switch house, and located a short way north of this building.