Westchester Avenue station

The station was built in 1908 as part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which expanded its Harlem River Branch line into an electrified main line into New York. The railroad planned twelve new stations along the route to serve local commuters, and commissioned the architect Cass Gilbert to design them. Gilbert, who was already renowned for having designed the U.S. Custom House in Lower Manhattan, produced plans for each of these in a number of different styles, though not all were actually built. For the station at Westchester Avenue, Gilbert chose a richly ornamented exterior with glazed terra cotta details and signage with gold colored metallic lettering. Gilbert would later incorporate glazed terra cotta details into his design for the Woolworth Building, which was completed in 1913.[3]

The line became very active with intercity train service, and remains presently as part of the Northeast Corridor between Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. The line failed to attract local commuter traffic, however, particularly once the New York City Subway with its five-cent fare was extended to much of the area beginning in 1920, and the local stations along the route became uneconomical to maintain. New Haven trains stopped serving Westchester Avenue and other local stations in 1931, and all the stations were finally abandoned when the New York, Westchester and Boston ceased operations in 1937.[4][5]

By 2009, the Westchester Avenue station was in an advanced state of disrepair and in danger of collapse. Three other Gilbert stations, all in the Bronx, were also extant. One of these, the Bartow/City Island Station, was also abandoned and near collapse, while the other two, somewhat altered, have found other uses, Morris Park as a gun club and Hunts Point as a commercial building.[3]

Amtrak owns the station and the land it occupies and has listed it as a trackside structure in need of demolition.[5] The New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private advocacy group, has placed the station on its list of endangered landmarks in New York City,[6] but no governmental agency has extended protection or even recognition to the structure. It is not a designated New York City landmark nor is it listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Several proposals for restoration and reuse have come and gone over the years. In 2011, architects Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi received a grant to develop a new proposal, which they presented in late 2012. Their plan would split the station into two pieces. The tower entry hall would remain where it is and serve as a pedestrian entryway to Concrete Plant Park, which was completed in 2010, and to the Bronx River Greenway, which was still under development at the time. The waiting room portion over the tracks would be removed and rebuilt very nearby on a pier in the Bronx River.[5] This plan gained some notice in the press,[7] but as yet no source of funding for the project seems to have been identified. In July 2015 the plan was integrated with the Bronx River Greenway extension plan.

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  Detail of roof line tower entry hall portion of station
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  Signage of metallic letters that remains largely intact
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  As seen from the northeast (Concrete Plant Park entry)
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  As seen from the rear of a southbound train on the Northeast Corridor
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  Seen from the southeast showing waiting room section suspended over tracks

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westchester Avenue station.

• Westchester Avenue NHRR Station (Road and Rail Pictures)
• New Haven RR Westchester Ave Station, April 18, 2004 (Subway & Rail)