LEE HALL TRAIN DEPOT

Established in 1881, the Lee Hall Train Depot is the last remaining station from the C&O Railroad’s expansion into Warwick County, Virginia and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. PMA’s collaborative effort to preserve and re-purpose this historic landmark incorporated input from local historical societies, city museum staff, and railroad enthusiasts. The City of Newport News worked closely with PMA Architecture on the $2.5 million project in a team effort to relocate and painstakingly restore the depot with the goal of preserving an important chapter of the city’s development. The historic building was moved in two pieces to a new, city-owned site just north of the CSX Railroad tracks in the Lee Hall Village area of Newport News.

The newly restored depot retains much of the original wood and boasts custom trim pieces specially crafted to mirror the original details, a new roof, a modern security system, and new siding and windows. The Lee Hall Train Depot will serve as a museum which will tell the story of how railroad transportation helped transform the city into an industrial center. In 2014, the exterior renovations were completed, fully restoring the depot’s 1918 appearance. The project was funded with TEA-21, National Railway Historical Society, and Amherst Railway Society grants.