Seaboard Coastline Building | |
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Location | 1 High St., Portsmouth, Virginia |
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Coordinates | 36°50′5″N76°17′49″W / 36.83472°N 76.29694°W |
Area | 0.8 acres (0.32 ha) |
Built | 1894 | -1895, 1914
Built by | Seaboard Air Line Railway |
NRHP reference No. | 85003129 [1] |
VLR No. | 124-0053 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 10, 1985 |
Designated VLR | August 13, 1985 [2] |
Seaboard Coastline Building, also known as Old City Hall, is a historic train station located at Portsmouth, Virginia. The original section was built in 1894-1895 by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. It is a six-story brick and concrete structure, with the 4th and 5th floors added in 1914. The front facade features a distinctive half-round or semicylindrical profile intended to recall the imagery of the streamlined locomotives of the late-19th century. The building served as the northern terminus and office headquarters of the Seaboard Air Line until 1958. [3]
The station served multiple passenger trains daily. One train was the Portsmouth section of the SAL's full service Silver Comet, bound for Raleigh, North Carolina, Athens and Atlanta in Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama. Another train, #3-11 southbound/#6-10 northbound, was a coach-only train to Atlanta, making local stops along the way. [4] The Silver Comet had its last trip into the station in 1968, when the SAL's successor, the merged Seaboard Coast Line, terminated passenger service on the branch leading into Portsmouth. [5] [6]
After the building was used for railroad purposes, it was used as the municipal building until 1980. [3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. [1]
Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia, United States. It lies across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is the 9th-most populous city in Virginia and is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area.
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which styled itself as "The Route of Courteous Service", was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Predecessor railroads dated from the 1830s and reorganized extensively to rebuild after the American Civil War. The company was headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, until 1958, when its main offices were relocated to Richmond, Virginia. The Seaboard Air Line Railway Building in Norfolk's historic Freemason District still stands and has been converted into apartments.
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Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot is an historic train depot in Elberton, Georgia. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Seaboard Air Line Railroad Passenger Station is a historic train station located at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
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