Owned by SEPTA Parking 35 Architectural style Victorian architecture Added to NRHP 26 November 1985 | Platforms 2 side platforms Opened 1878 Owner SEPTA Tracks 2 | |
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Location 314 West Tulpehocken Street
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Line(s) Chestnut Hill West Line Connections SEPTA City Bus: Routes 53, 65 Address Philadelphia, PA 19144, United States Similar Chelten Avenue station, Chestnut Hill West station, Upsal station, St Martins station, Queen Lane station | ||
Tulpehocken station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located at 314 West Tulpehocken Street in the Germantown neighborhood, it serves the Chestnut Hill West Line. It is also known as Walnut Lane Station. The Pennsylvania Railroad built the station in 1878 from a design by Frank Furness, according to the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings project. The station is in zone 2 on the Chestnut Hill West Line, and is 8.5 track miles from Suburban Station. In 2004, this station saw 176 boardings on an average weekday.
History
Although commonly attributed to architect Frank Furness, the actual architects for all of the stations on the Chestnut Hill West line (part of the Pennsylvania Railroad at the time) were William Brown and William Bleddyn Powell, who were under contract to PRR. This information comes from the Philadelphia Historical Commission in its nominations for the registry of Historic Places. (Furness designed station buildings on the Reading Railroad.) All of the Chestnut Hill West stations are now on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The Tulpehocken Station is a contributing property in the Tulpehocken Station Historic District of the National Register of Historic Places.
The station building had either a ticket office or a business in it and a residence above it until 1978. The building was closed although the station stop continued. SEPTA provided little or no maintenance to the building and it deteriorated significantly.
In November 2007, the West Central Germantown Neighbors formed a committee, Save Tulpehocken Station, in an attempt to recover the station and return it to a viable use. Working with SEPTA, Philadelphia City Planning, and local politicians, the local residents raised funds to match a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The grant funded a project manager to assess the structural condition of the building and to identify a viable business use for it.
In the spring of 2009, SEPTA received federal economic stimulus funds which were allotted to the Chestnut Hill West line for building repairs. As a result, the Tulpehocken Station building received repairs which will encourage a business developer to make use of the space.