Former Rutland Railroad Company Train Depot in VT
Bennington Railroad Station, Bennington Vermont
The Bennington Railroad Station is the only example in Vermont of a railroad station in Richardsonian Romanesque style. A locally significant architect, William C. Bull, designed the marble station following closely the idiom of H. H. Richardson. The building represents the strong influence exerted by Richardson on railroad station architecture during the late nineteenth century. Owing to its location on a branch line, the Bennington station served passenger trains only during the first thirty-five years of its existence.
By the 1890s, the rather modest Bennington and Rutland Railway passenger depot at Bennington must have become inadequate. The village was expanding rapidly along with its textile and other industries. The population of Bennington township increased from 6,391 in 1890 to 8,033 in 1900; of that latter figure, 5,656 lived in the village. The depot had been built in the 1850s to serve a village population probably half of that size.
Despite its prominence as the administrative, commercial, and industrial center of southwestern Vermont, Bennington village was not served by a mainline railroad. The principal line of the Bennington and Rutland Railway between southwestern Vermont and eastern New York passed instead through the smaller village of North Bennington, about five miles to the northwest. From 1854 until 1868, Bennington village was the southern terminus of a branch line from North Bennington. In the latter year, the Lebanon Springs Railroad was constructed to connect Bennington and Chatham, New York. This winding rural line, however, remained until its abandonment (in 1953) a minor route with little traffic.
The original Bennington depot consisted of a one-and-one-half-story, wood-framed and clapboarded building with a cross-gable roof whose overhanging eaves were decorated with Gothic Revival bargeboards. A small brick building containing the baggage room was sited next to its north elevation. Across the tracks to the west stood an elongated one-and-one-half story, wood-framed and vertically boarded, gable-roofed freight depot. The multiple-track freight switching yard extended northward from these buildings. Only the Lebanon Springs track continued southward owing to the existence of a mill pond (now infilled) on the adjacent Walloomsac River.
The project to provide Bennington with a passenger station more appropriate to its rising stature commenced in the autumn of 1897. To clear the site, the original depot was moved southward next to the river for interim use and the baggage room and main track were removed. The new station was then erected and completed in 1898. The old depot was demolished in July of that year by means of a locomotive and cable, reducing it to kindling wood that local residents promptly scavenged.
The Bennington and Rutland Railway commissioned a Bennington architect by the name of William C. Bull to design the new station. A native of Wallingford, Vermont, Bull started his Bennington practice in 1879. During the following quarter-century, he designed numerous buildings, especially houses, around Bennington, using a variety of styles. For unknown reasons, Bull's choice of style for the station was changed during the design stage.
A photograph of Bull's preliminary sketch shows a gable-roofed stone building of Gothic Revival character whose prominent shouldered gables are outlined with stone coping. The trackside (west) elevation is dominated by a two-story, three-sided tower crowned by a crenelated parapet. Flanking each side of the tower is a small-shouldered gabled wall dormer with eaves coping. The platform canopy appears to have the same position and length as built but twice the number of posts in a staggered arrangement.
The transformation of Bull's design reflects the contemporary influence of Henry Hobson Richardson (although then dead some ten years) on New England railroad station architecture. The Bennington station in its revised form exhibits conspicuous similarity to Richardson's station (now demolished) erected at Wellesley, Massachusetts for the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1884. The buildings show similar horizontal massing, natural materials, and stylistic forms. The stone-faced gabled dormers are almost interchangeable although Bull applied that feature in an irregular overall arrangement contrasting to Richardson's symmetry. The interiors also display an obvious relationship, especially in the treatment of the main waiting rooms. Both are (were) open to the multi-plane roof, sheathed entirely with beaded matched boards, and lighted from above by triplet dormer windows (Bull omitted Richardson's crowning round-arched light). In the Bennington case, the Eagle Square Co. of nearby Shaftsbury performed the interior finish work and may have been the contractor for the exterior shell of the building.
Although somewhat less forceful in architectural effect than the Richardsonian model, the new Bennington station must have exerted a highly favorable impression on both the village residents and the traveling public. A contemporary Bennington Banner article stated that "the company has spared no expense in providing for the comfort and convenience of its patrons," and judged the station "the handsomest and most artistic in the State." The newspaper writer noted "one of the pleasing features (is) a fireplace in the ladies' waiting room with a handsome mantel and ornamental work surrounding it, while special designs for the windows add to the beauty of the interior." Apparently to enhance the surroundings, the company demolished the adjacent freight house and constructed a brick replacement near the north end of the switching yard.
Ironically the Bennington station soon became a monument to the company that built it. In 1900, the connecting Rutland Railroad acquired the Bennington and Rutland, and the latter's name passed into history. Only four years later, however, the Rutland itself lost its independence when the giant New York Central gained control through stock purchases. Then in 1911 the New York Central sold half of its interest to the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad but the latter company never matched the influence of the former on the Rutland and its operations.
Passenger service at the Bennington station consisted predominantly of shuttle trains that operated only along the branch line to North Bennington. That 4.5-mile trip took ten minutes, and there were several trains per day in each direction around the turn of the century. At the North Bennington station, passengers made across-the-platform transfers to the mainline trains between New York, Troy, and Montreal via western Vermont. Southward from Bennington station, two local trains per day made the 58-mile trip to Chatham, New York, southern terminus of the Rutland Railroad and its connection with the New York Central.
The Rutland passenger timetables issued September 12th, 1915 show the initial effect of emerging competition from motor vehicles on the short North Bennington route. Eight trains then made the northward trip each weekday while ten trains traveled in the opposite direction. Three of those trains, however, were marked for discontinuance the following month. By September 1919, near the end of wartime control by the United States Railroad Administration, the Bennington shuttle service provided seven-weekday trains in each direction.
Possibly in anticipation of the onset of USRA control in December, 1917, the Valuation Department of the Rutland Railroad prepared a detailed inventory of the Bennington station. The report (dated October 4th, 1917) contains a listing of the building's materials and furnishings together with floor and roof plans. Given that the station had existed only twenty years, the inventory records essentially its original fabric. One obvious exception indicates the influence of the Rutland Railroad's part owner: The main waiting room then contained benches of New York Central type (#S-2).
This inventory possesses special value for describing interior features and spatial divisions that were later altered or removed. The ticket agent's office occupied the semicircular bay that projects from the south end of the trackside elevation. On the interior, its brass-grilled wickets with marble counter served both the main and ladies' waiting rooms. The baggage room walls were sheathed with double-beaded matched boards and protected by multiple oak guards that rose to wainscot height. Adjoining the baggage room on the north were the trainmen's room next to the platform (west) entrance and the supervisor's office entered from the east vestibule. Two conductors' rooms occupied the building's north end, the entrance on that elevation leading into the larger west room. These latter rooms shared molded baseboards, double-beaded matched boards as wainscoting, and plastered upper walls and ceilings (the former being covered with burlap in the conductors' rooms).
Complementing the marble exterior of the station, the same stone was applied variously on the interior. (Aside from the fireplace in the ladies' waiting room, the interior marble was subsequently removed.) The toilet for the conductors' rooms was distinguished by a marble floor, marble wainscoting, and marble lavatory top. The public men's toilet contrasted by having a slate floor and slate stalls and backing. A marble drinking fountain was installed in the main waiting room.
During the 1920s, rapidly increasing usage of automobiles diverted a rising portion of passenger traffic. In 1925, the Rutland Railroad discontinued the passenger trains between Bennington and Chatham, and substituted buses on that route. Only six years later, at the end of 1931, the bus service was also abandoned. More of the North Bennington shuttle trains were discontinued during the same period.
The national economic collapse after 1929 compounded the reduction of passenger traffic. In the spring of 1933, it became known in Bennington that the Rutland Railroad planned to cease operation of the five remaining passenger trains on the Bennington Branch. Local residents petitioned the state Public Service Commission in opposition, stating "that the operation of its railroad and the conduct of its business by said company without the passenger train service hereinbefore specified are not reasonable or expedient..." Most of the records of the case have been lost.
The outcome, however, is documented by the Rutland's passenger timetables issued on June 25th, 1933; the only scheduled service between Bennington and North Bennington was then provided by buses.
It is not known how much longer the Rutland Railroad maintained an agency for freight service at Bennington station. The legal request to close the agency does not appear in the extant records of the Public Service Commission. Freight train service on the Bennington Branch has continued to the present (1986) albeit with significant changes. During 1953, the Chatham Division was abandoned outright and the track was removed south of Bennington station. In June of the same year, the reorganized Rutland Railway terminated its entire passenger service owing to mounting financial losses. That brought to conclusion a century of railroad passenger service through Bennington township (North Bennington station was closed the same year). A labor strike in 1961 precipitated the complete abandonment of operations by the Rutland Railway, but in 1964 the successor Vermont Railway restored freight service through western Vermont to Bennington.
After the cessation of passenger service, the Rutland Railroad leased the Bennington station for a series of commercial uses. Subsequently, the building has served those uses (including, ironically, an automobile dealership) longer than its original purpose. In 1966, the corporate shell of the Rutland Railway finally sold the Bennington station to a private owner. Its circa 1970 conversion to a restaurant involved the most substantial alterations, especially the enclosure of the porte-cochere and the addition of a modern wing on the trackside elevation beneath the platform canopy. A short period of vacancy in the 1980s led to a certain amount of vandalism; the most significant loss was the distinctive molded copper crest tile and gutters, most of which were hacked from the building for sale as scrap.
The present owners acquired the building at the beginning of 1986 and have undertaken a major rehabilitation for the purpose of recreating a restaurant. The architectural firm of Lawrence Atkin, Burlington, Vermont, designed the project, and construction began in the summer of 1986. The exterior treatment gives emphasis to the restoration of the building's historic fabric while also incorporating the modern additions from the initial restaurant conversion. On the interior, the principal public rooms (the original waiting rooms) are being refurbished to preserve their significant historic character. The other rooms are being refinished with modern materials owing both to the damaged historic fabric and the requirements of restaurant service facilities.
Building Description
Marking the present end of the Vermont Railway line into Bennington village, the Bennington Railroad Station stands in a commercial-residential area near the village center. The one-story, hip-roofed building of Richardsonian Romanesque style and apsidal-like plan was constructed in 1897-98 of rock-faced blue marble with. decorative tooling. Its irregular fenestration consists of distinctive single-light windows with diamond-paned transoms that are repeated in various sizes. A now-enclosed porte-cochere projects from the east facade while the south elevation is semicircular with a semiconical roof. A prominent marble-faced gabled dormer emerges from each main slope of the roof. Apart from a modern addition beneath the platform canopy, the exterior retains essentially its Original appearance. The interior has been repeatedly altered to suit various adaptive uses since the cessation of passenger service in 1933, being reconverted to a restaurant during an ongoing 1986 rehabilitation.
The Bennington Railroad Station is situated at the northwest margin of the village's commercial district. Depot Street passes east of the building, diverging somewhat from the north-south alignment of the Vermont Railway track (now an inactive stub) on the west side. The partly disused railway freight yard extends northward from the station. Immediately north of the building, River Street crosses the freight yard and serves mixed residential-commercial areas to the east and west. The upper reach of the Walloomsac River flows northwestward a short distance south of the station.
The track forms roughly the hypotenuse of a right triangle whose other two Sides are the streets. The station and its attached platform canopy extend parallel to the east side of the track. Along the east side of the building, an : original driveway that passed through the porte-cochere has been removed. Small coniferous shrubs follow the building's perimeter, and an open lawn occupies the area next to the street corner. A newly built paved parking lot extends southward from Depot Street along the west side of the track.
The one-story (plus partial attic) building possesses an apsidal-like rectangular plan with a semicircular south elevation and a porte-cochere projecting from the east facade. The building measures 112.5 feet in overall length. Excluding the porte-cochere, the south half is about 34 feet in width while a recession in the west facade reduces the width of the north half to about 31 feet. Projecting six feet beyond the vertical wall surfaces, the eaves of the roof are 13.5 feet from the ground and the ridge rises about 15 feet above the eaves. The porte-cochere is about 22 feet square and 17 feet high at the ridge. A semicircular agent's office bay projects 4.5 feet from the south end of the west facade.
The Richardsonian Romanesque style of the station is expressed especially by its rock-faced blue marble (quarried in West Rutland, Vermont) ashlar masonry laid in random ranges with beaded joints. Below the level of the window sills, the walls flare slightly outward. The corners of the building are articulated by narrow tooled vertical bands while the window reveals display-reeded surfaces. The broadly planed hip roof is sheathed with the original gray slate shingles except for replacement asphalt shingles on the west (trackside) slope. The original molded copper crest tile along the ridge has been mostly replaced by a plain copper ridge cap. A low off-center marble chimney astride the ridge concludes in a dressed cap course. Unlike the single-plane north slope (interrupted by metal ventilating equipment installed in 1986), the south end of the roof is semi-conical in form with a curved copper finial at its peak. A massive marble chimney rises from its west slope to a dressed cap. The soffit of the overhanging eaves is sheathed with beaded matched boards that follow the curvature around the south elevation.
The east (Depot Street) facade is dominated by the porte-cochere (now enclosed) that projects near the south end. Two massive marble piers (also of random ashlar) at the outer corners flank on its east face a four-foot marble apron with continuous coping. The former opening has been infilled with plate glass below the original segmental wood lintel embellished with egg-and-dart molding and supported by stylized wood brackets at the piers. Sharing the same lintel treatment, the former north and south carriage openings have been enclosed with plate glass above concrete-block spandrels. At the overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails with round ends support the soffit of beaded matched boards; the original copper gutter has been removed. The slate-shingled hip roof retains its molded copper crest tile.
The original main entrance sheltered by the porte-cochere has been adapted to an interior opening without the double-leaf doors although the twin diamond-paned transoms remain in place. To the right, a window has been removed from its opening below a diamond-paned transom. Flanking each side of the porte-cochere is a single-hung window with a large single light and diamond-paned transom, the distinctive type common to the building. Placed off-center on this facade, an altered secondary entrance is distinguished by a keystone semicircular-arched opening with tooled corner band. This former recessed vestibule was enclosed circa 1970 by the installation near the wall plane of a modern glass door flanked by slender half-length sidelights and a segmental fanlight. To the right of this entrance, coupled reduced windows (again single lights with diamond transoms) occupy the next bay followed by a small diamond-paned hinged window with hammered glass and finally a full-size window of the typical division.
Two dormers emerge from the east slope of the roof, conforming to the line of the wall plane below. Suggesting the appearance of a wall dormer above the porte-cochere, a marble-faced gabled dormer 20.5 feet in breadth is lighted by triplet diamond-paned square windows with continuous lintel and sill. Marble coping ascends the raking eaves to a dressed marble globe finial. The ridge retains its molded copper crest tile. Offset northward from the arched entrance, a small hipped dormer is entirely shingled with slate and lighted by a small diamond-paned window. Its copper crest tile remains in place along with a curved finial at the peak.
The three-bay north (River Street) elevation includes a central entrance with its original three-panel, single-light door below a diamond-paned transom. A small diamond-paned hinged window occurs to the left while to the right is a typical full-size window.
The opposite (south) elevation of the apsidal form is illuminated by two central windows linked by a continuous sill that repeats at an enlarged scale the division of single light with diamond transom. These are flanked symmetrically on the east and west by triplet small diamond-paned windows mounted at transom level.
The west (trackside) facade is concealed along most of its first story by a modern (rebuilt in 1986) addition beneath the platform canopy. The north half is wood-framed and sheathed with plywood while the south half consists largely of plate glass; the latter half includes a new main entrance to the building. Within the modern addition, original triple windows occupy a south-central position flanked on the left and right by the twin platform entrances. Near the south end of this facade, the semicircular former agent's office bay (also of marble ashlar) emerges from the wall plane. Three curved single-light windows surmounted by diamond transoms illuminate the office bay.
On the west slope of the roof, a marble-faced gabled dormer emerges opposite its east-slope counterpart; this one, however, has lost its original roof slate and copper crest tile. The smaller hipped dormer to the left, unlike its east-slope counterpart, possesses a polygonal plan. Lighting the former dispatcher's office, its small windows on three faces were replaced by louvers in 1986.
Rising 13.5 feet at the eaves, the platform canopy extends along the west facade with its shed roof attached to the main roof of the building. It continues southward about the same length under a hipped roof 15.5 feet in span that retains slate shingles on its east slope. The original molded copper crest tile has been replaced with a plain copper ridgecap. The canopy is supported by single square timber posts set in protective iron boxes. Four curved wood brackets of square section sprout from the top of each post. The ceiling is sheathed with beaded matched boards (replaced in 1986). The concrete platform is bounded by a granite curb along the trackside.
The interior of the station has been extensively altered from its original appearance, reflecting a succession of adaptive uses since the abandonment of passenger service in 1933. Many of the changes accompanied the initial (circa 1970) conversion to a restaurant. The kitchen facilities were installed in the north half of the building, causing extensive damage to historic fabric. The porte-cochere was enclosed for a dining area, and the main waiting room was reworked for the same purpose. The main entrance was then shifted to the former open vestibule to the right of the porte-cochere.
Although much interior fabric has been removed or damaged, much also remains in place. The original ladies' waiting room (now a dining room) in the apsidal end of the building retains the highest degree of historic integrity. Entered from the main waiting room through a wide trabeated opening flanked by wood half-columns with stylized Corinthian capitals, this room is distinguished by three-tier, cherry-stained wood paneling on the walls, a molded baseboard, and a heavy molded cornice around the perimeter of its 12-foot plastered ceiling. A simply decorated fireplace against the west wall comprises a broad polished marble surround and hearth, brick firebox, molded wood mantel, and paneled breast. The floor is laid with narrow matched boards of yellow pine, now covered with carpet.
The original main waiting room (now the main dining room) constitutes the largest interior space, being about 31 by 40 feet and rising to the gambrel-form underside of the roof. The ceiling retains its original beaded matched pine board sheathing, articulated by boxed beams and molded ribs at changes of slope. The same sheathing is carried downward onto the upper wall surfaces. In 1986, three-tier, cherry-stained wood paneling has been applied to the walls below a continuous molded cornice encircling the room above the window lintels, thereby recreating the original sheathing. The original flooring of matched yellow pine boards has been partly concealed by a raised platform in the center of the room. The porte-cochere (also a dining room) retains beaded matched boards on its ceiling together with closely spaced boxed beams.
Next to the north of the main waiting room, the original baggage room (now the bar) of about 13 by 21 feet has been extensively altered during the current rehabilitation project. Its previous use as the restaurant kitchen caused considerable damage to its historic sheathing materials. Accordingly, the double-beaded matched boards on the walls have been replaced by gypsum board above a molded cornice and two-tier wood paneling similar to that in the adjoining waiting room. The doors retain original molded surrounds with bullseye corner blocks. Also in 1986, the baggage office alcove was removed from the room's southeast corner. This office was distinguished by paneled walls surmounted by a cornice and beaded boards on the ceiling; an original wire grille protected the service counter.
Adjoining the baggage room on the east is the originally open recessed vestibule with three doorways leading to the main waiting room, the baggage room, and the supervisor's office. The vestibule walls match the rock-faced marble of the exterior. Each doorway is surmounted by a diamond-paned transom. The vestibule ceiling is also sheathed with beaded-matched boards.
The original partitions that subdivided the north end of the building (now the restaurant kitchen) into a supervisor's office, two conductors' rooms, and a trainmen's room have been removed, and the original sheathing materials have been mostly replaced. The double-beaded matched boards applied to the walls as high (5-foot) wainscoting were replaced in 1986 by glazed ceramic tile, and quarry tile was laid on the floor; the ceiling and upper walls were resheathed with gypsum board. The doors and windows retain molded surrounds with bullseye corner blocks.
A stair ascends behind the north wall of the main waiting room to serve the attic floor of about 29 by 49 feet in the north half of the building. An 11-by-19-foot office focused on the trackside polygonal dormer was originally occupied by the train dispatcher, providing a view in both directions along the track. Only the office is finished, having beaded matched boards on both the walls and ceiling.
South elevation (1987)
West and south elevations (1987)
East and north elevations (1987)
Porte-cochere on east facade (1987)
Preliminary sketch of west and south elevations by W. C. Bull, architect
