Hartford & New Haven Railroad-Freight Depot facts for kids

Hartford & New Haven Railroad Freight Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
The Hartford and New Haven Railroad Freight Depot
Location in Connecticut
Location	40 Mechanic St., Windsor, Connecticut
Area	less than one acre
Built	c. 1870
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
Part of	Broad Street Green Historic District (ID99001613)
MPS	18th and 19th Century Brick Architecture of Windsor TR
NRHP reference No.	88001505
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 15, 1988
Designated CP	December 30, 1999

The Hartford & New Haven Railroad Freight Depot is a historic building at 40 Mechanic Street in downtown Windsor, Connecticut, across the street from the equally historic Hartford & New Haven Railroad Depot. Built about 1870, it is a well-preserved example of a Gothic Revival freight depot. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It is now the home of the Windsor Arts Center, a non-profit place that exhibits the work of visual and performing artists.

Description and history

The former Hartford & New Haven Railroad Freight Depot is located on the east side of Windsor's downtown area, on the west side of Mechanic Street at its junction with Central Street. It is a long rectangular two-story brick building, set between Mechanic Street and the tracks of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, now the main line railroad between Hartford, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts. It is located diagonally opposite the tracks and Center Street from the current Amtrak station. It has a largely utilitarian design with some Gothic Revival flourishes. Its roof is topped by square ventilators capped with pyramidal roofs. The present main entrance, on the short end facing Center Street, is sheltered by a gabled bracketed wood-frame hood. The long facades are eleven bays long, articulated by brick piers. Some bays have segmented-arch openings. The roof has extended eaves with exposed rafter and purlin ends.

The construction date of the building is uncertain. A small freight depot is documented as standing on this site in 1869, but it is possible that the current building replaced that one around the time that the adjacent passenger depot was built by the Hartford and New Haven Railroad. Since 2007, the building has housed the Windsor Arts Center.