Owned by MBTA Built 1881 Platforms in use 1 Architect Henry Hobson Richardson | Disabled access Yes Opened 1881 Tracks 1 | |
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Location Off Oliver Street
North Easton, Massachusetts Location 80 Mechanic St.
North Easton, Massachusetts Part of H. H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton (#87002598) Owner Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Similar Ames Gate Lodge, Oakes Ames Memorial, Ames Free Library, Governor Ames Estate, Emmanuel Episcopal Church | ||
The Old Colony Railroad Station, also known as the North Easton Railroad Station, is a historic railroad station designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson. It is located just off Oliver Street in North Easton, Massachusetts, and currently houses the Easton Historical Society, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1987 it also became part of the H. H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton, a National Historic Landmark District.
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The historic station will be joined by the modern Easton Village station as part of the South Coast Rail project.
History
The station was commissioned in 1881 by Frederick Lothrop Ames, director of the Old Colony Railroad, during the same year that Richardson designed the Ames Gate Lodge for his nearby estate. Frederick Law Olmsted landscaped its grounds.
In 1969, the Ames family purchased the property from the Penn Central Railroad and gave it to the historical society.
A new MBTA Commuter Rail station, Easton Village, is planned to be built at the site as part of the South Coast Rail project. An 800-foot-long (240 m) high-level platform will be constructed across the track from the historic building.
Architecture
It is a relatively small station, a single story in height with Richardson's characteristic heavy masonry and outsized roof. Its long axis runs north-south with the tracks, now disused, along its west side. The building is laid out symmetrically within, with a large passenger room at each end (one for women, the other for men).
The station's facade is constructed of rough-faced, random ashlar of gray granite with a brownstone belt course and trim. Two large, semicircular arches punctuate each of the long facades, inset with windows and doorways, and ornamented with carvings of a beast's snarling head; a further semicircular arch projects to form the east facade's porte-cochere. Eaves project deeply over all sides, supported by plain wooden brackets.