Built 1905 MPS Inner Loop MRA Opened 1905 Added to NRHP 4 October 1985 | Architect Hyde, F.D. NRHP Reference # 85002858 Area 3,642 m² | |
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Location 99 Court St., Rochester, New York Architectural style Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Gothic, French Renaissance Similar Court Street, Rundel Memorial Library, Frederick Douglass–Susan B Anthon, Broad Street Bridge, High Falls | ||
Lehigh Valley Railroad Station is a historic railway station located at Rochester in Monroe County, New York. The Lehigh Valley Railroad built the station in 1905 but stopped using the station for passenger service in the 1950s. Later the station was used as a bus terminal and then as a night club. In the 1980s the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and today it houses the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurant.
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History
Around the turn of the 20th century, the Lehigh Valley Railroad was the last of several railroads to bring passenger service to Rochester. The first passenger terminal was a small wooden depot constructed a few blocks to the south of the later station, near where I-490 passes today.
The current station was built in 1905 and consisted of a passenger station and freight terminal. The buildings were located above the Johnson-Seymour mill on the Genesee River and across the river from the Erie Railroad Depot. The passenger station is a brick, hip-roofed, 1 1⁄2-story structure with French Renaissance overtones, including "two-toned walls, copper gutters and flashing and a red tiled roof." The freight terminal is a 1-story brick structure. Passenger service ended in 1950.
Post-train station years
Briefly, the station served as a bus depot, but it was abandoned completely in 1954. The buildings became widely known as an eyesore in Rochester, and a refurbishment attempt in the 1970s failed. Local developer Max Farash bought the buildings in 1982 (for one dollar), and a two-year restoration process ensued. In 1985, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After a few years in the 1990s as a nightclub called Carpe Diem, the buildings now house Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.