Description of Historic Place

Prescott Railway Station (Grand Trunk) National Historic Site is a small, stone station building situated beside CNR tracks at the base of a small ridge at the end of St. Lawrence St. in Prescott.

Heritage Value

Prescott Railway Station (Grand Trunk) was designated a national historic site in 1973 because:
- it is a typical example of the smaller stations erected for the Grand Trunk Railway,
- influenced by English designs, the station is an enduring monument to early Canadian railway enterprise.

The heritage value of this site resides in its physical illustration of a 'First Class A Type' standard station design for the Grand Trunk Railway on the Montreal-Brockville line in the mid 19th-century.

Prescott's Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) station was built in 1855 during the first construction period of the GTR line between Montreal and Brockville (1852-1855). It was a standard design for small stations prepared for the new line by English architect Francis Thompson.

Sources: HSMBC Minutes, June 1973, November 1974, May 1979, February 1992, November 1992.

Character-Defining Elements

Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:

- the rectangular massing,
- the end-gabled pitched roof with balanced pairs of chimneys at each end,
- the regular articulation of its seven-bay main facades, and identical two-bay end facades,
- the Italianate features of its design including simple arched openings, prominent voussoirs and edge quoining, and heavy eave returns,
- the rock-faced grey ashlar limestone exterior walls,
- the station's siting beside train tracks at the end of an urban street.