Trinity Place Station // 1900-1964

Trinity Place Station was the Boston & Albany Railroad’s second depot for trains running outbound from its newly completed South Station. The depot was designed by Alexander Wadsworth “Waddy” Longfellow, Jr., who from Harvard University in 1876, later studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and then worked as senior draftsman in Henry Hobson Richardson‘s office upon his return to the United States. A. W. Longfellow was also the nephew of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He designed the station of pink granite with a covered platform 375 feet in length. The building long served train commuters leaving the ever-changing Back Bay neighborhood. Consolidated lines led to the station being deemed obsolete, and it was scheduled for demolition. Much of the old line route would be cleared for the right-of-way for the Mass Pike Expansion into Boston. The demolition on Trinity Place was postponed until early 1964 to allow for scenes of the movie, “The Cardinal” to be filmed there.

Wellesley Farms Railroad Station // 1890

Designed by two of the greatest designers of the time, H.H. Richardson and Frederick Law Olmsted, this tiny train station was (until fairly recently) under threat from demolition.

The depot was a stop on the Boston & Albany railroad designed the year of the world-renowned architect’s death, but not built until 1890. The train depot was a stop on the Boston and Albany Railroad and is constructed out of Milford granite and Longmeadow sandstone trim. Frederick Law Olmsted designed the landscaping around the depot, which includes a tranquil pond. This site is one of a few remaining designs where Richardson and Olmsted collaborated on a project. 

The depot suffered a large fire in 1969, which destroyed the interior. After the fire, the town of Wellesley purchased the building for $2,000. Shockingly, the board of selectmen then voted to demolish the building. Large public protests occurred and preservation won! 
The depot was restored and now is a commuter train station with the MBTA.