Pittsfield & North Adams Passenger Station and Baggage & Express House

The former Passenger Station and Baggage & Express House of the Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad stand east of the Pittsfield and North Adams railroad bed and west of Pleasant Street, near the east end of Armory Court in Adams Center. Although assigned a street number, both structures are sited in reference to the railroad bed rather than the street. Both buildings have rectangular floor plans, and are one-story high, enclosed by hip roofs which have a steeper pitched central section enclosing the actual structures and a shallower pitched outer section which provides a covered walkway around each structure. The larger of the two structures is the Passenger Station, which is built of red brick (now painted white) and trimmed with brown sandstone, both rock-faced and dressed.

The Passenger Station's opposite elevations (east and west; north and south) are identical to each other, except for modern alterations. The west elevation faces the railroad bed and rests on a plinth of dressed sandstone. Symmetrically arranged, this elevation has at its center a group of three windows whose sills are formed by a course of rock-faced stone which extends around the entire building. Now partially blocked, these windows contained 4/1 sash and have flat-archheads of radiating brick. Flanking this central grouping are two large arches with brick and stone voussoirs. Partially filled in with brick to form a straight-sided opening (by original design) each of these arches contains a central door of nine wood panels with chamfered sides and moulded tops and bottoms.

Flanking the central door are two 6/2 sidelight windows set over panelled bases. Surmounting each door and its sidelights is a tripartite transom glazed with small square panes. Placed symmetrically in pairs along the wall are laminated, curved braces which support the roof's projecting eaves and exposed decorated rafters.

(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect Unknown The former Pittsfield & North Adams Railroad Passenger Station and Baggage & Express House possesses integrity of location, design, materials and setting, as well as historical associations with the Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad by which they were built as Adams's main depot. They meet criterion A of the National Register of Historic Places. The Passenger Station, with its brick construction, arched windows and entries, sandstone trim and deep eaves supported by laminated wood brackets, combines elements of the Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne styles.

Despite alteration to windows of the east elevation and the partial blocking of windows on other elevations, the essential features of the station remain intact including panelled entries and its railroad platform. Located north of the Passenger Station is the wood-frame Baggage and Express House which was listed in local directories as the local office of both the American Express Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company as early as 1889-1890. Although built to a similar but miniaturized plan of the Passenger Station, the Baggage & Express House is more fancifully decorated, particularly in its ornately panelled double doors and wooden siding. Exact construction dates for the two structures are unknown; however, both appear on the town atlas of 1894.

In addition the town's first directory (1889-1890) lists the two 52222 buildings without street addresses, but in the same way as subsequent listings, suggesting that the present buildings stood by 1889. Important to the development of Adam's industries, the Pittsfield & North Adams Railroad was built through Adams in 1845-1846. When originally opened, the railroad maintained a depot slightly north of the town's center between Depot and Hoosac Streets.