Old Central Fire Station (Pittsfield, Massachusetts)
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The Old Central Fire Station is a historic fire station at 66 Allen Street in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfieldâ ...
. Built in 1895, it is the city's oldest surviving fire station, and a prominent local example of Romanesque architecture. The station was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1977, and was included in an expansion of Pittsfield's Park Square Historic District in 1991. It now houses offices.


Description and history

Pittsfield's former Central Fire Station is located roughly behind the
Old Town Hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
in the city's downtown Park Square area. The building is constructed primarily of brick in a
Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...
style. It is two stories in height, with a hose drying tower at one corner. It has four equipment bays, the outer ones set in large round-arch surrounds, and the inner ones set in segmented-arch openings. It was the first city station equipped for the stabling of horses on its premises. The station's general location has been used since about 1844 as a site for fire companies. A previous building, located across the street, was destroyed by fire in 1859. After construction of this building in 1895 the old building housed the Veteran Fireman's Association; it was demolished in the 1930s. This building was built in 1895 to a design by E.J. Cowell, the city's building inspector. Cowell had a reputation as a designer of local houses. The building was used as a fire station until 1976, and thereafter as a city vehicle storage facility. It now houses the offices of a local economic development agency.


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts


References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Fire stations completed in 1895 Fire stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Pittsfield, Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts Defunct fire stations in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts