Seaboard Coastline Building, also known as Old City Hall, is a historic

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

located at

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. It lies across the Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth River from Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. The original section was built in 1894-1895 by the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

. It is a six-story brick and concrete structure, with the 4th and 5th floors added in 1914. The front facade features a distinctive half-round or semicylindrical profile intended to recall the imagery of the streamlined locomotives of the late-19th century. The building served as the northern terminus and office headquarters of the Seaboard Air Line until 1958. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref>

Passenger train terminal

The station served multiple passenger trains daily. One train was the Portsmouth section of the SAL's full service '' Silver Comet,'' bound for Raleigh, North Carolina, Athens and Atlanta in Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama. Another train, #3-11 southbound/#6-10 northbound, was a coach-only train to Atlanta, making local stops along the way. The ''Silver Comet'' had its last trip into the station in 1968, when the SAL's successor, the merged

Seaboard Coast Line The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate li ...

, terminated passenger service on the branch leading into Portsmouth.

Use in recent years

After the building was used for railroad purposes, it was used as the municipal building until 1980. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985.

References

Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Railway stations in the United States opened in 1895 National Register of Historic Places in Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

{{PortsmouthVA-NRHP-stub