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Long Island Rail Road - Great Neck Station
Surveyor's Name: Michele Boyd. Photo by Martha Cooper 2002.
Date of survey: July/August 2000
Building Address: Station Plaza
Block/Lot: NA
Building type: Train station
Owner's name: Long Island Rail Road
Building name: Great Neck Station
Historical name: Brookdale, Great Neck Station, Thomaston
Date of construction: 1924
Architect: Unknown
Building dimensions: Not available
No. of floors: One and a half
Decorative features: Wood brackets and roof supports, brick lintels, stone sills
Siding material(s): Brick and wood
Roof style: Steeply pitched cross-gabled with flared eaves and shed dormers
Roofing materials: Asphalt
No. of entrances & placement: Entrances at South and North Station Plazas
Chimneys & placement: One interior at roof ridge
Architectural integrity: Moderate; original roof and windows replaced, restaurant addition
Architectural style: Dutch Colonial Revival
Description: The station stop is a red brick building with a one-and-a-half-story center section flanked by two one-story wings. One of the side wings is open and one is enclosed. Rustic wooden pillars support the open wing. The eaves of the center section are bracketed. The roof of the central section has three shed dormers on its south slope and six shed dormers on its north slope. Windows are double-hung aluminum sash with brick lintels and stone sills. A concrete pedestrian bridge connects South Station and North Station Plazas. A small, two-story tower at the south of the station is faced with red brick and has a hipped roof. The steeply pitched roof that flares at the eaves and the shed dormers are Dutch Colonial features.
The café extension was added after World War II. In recent years the original slate roof was replaced.
Historical information: In 1866 the rail line ended at Great Neck. By 1869, the stop was called Brookdale, and then named Great Neck Station in1872. During the 1890s it was referred to as Thomaston, and in 1898 the line was extended to Port Washington. In 1903 the station was renamed Great Neck. A wood-frame station stop was built in 1883, renovated on 1893, and replaced with the present station in 1924.
A New York Times article from July 1924 asked for bids on new station buildings in Great Neck and Manhasset, with construction scheduled to be completed by November 1, 1924. A Times article dated March 8, 1925 announced the opening of the station.
In 1935 the tracks were lowered to eliminate the grade crossing, and the pedestrian bridge and bridge along Middle Neck Road were constructed with the help of the William Barstow family.
Sources:
“Request for Bids on New Train Stations in Great Neck and Manhasset. To Be Completed by Nov.1, 1924,” New York Times, 13 July 1924, p. 10.
“Great Neck Station Opens,” New York Times, 8 March 1925, p. 19.
Ellen Cole, Historic and Natural Districts Inventory for Great Neck Plaza (Setauket, N.Y.: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, 1977), GNP-3 (VGNP Historic Preservation file).
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