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1898
GUSN-273447
This collection consists of four drawings submitted by Longfellow to the Boston Elevated Railroad Company's station design contest in 1898. The drawings won the competition. The collection includes two ink on linen views of the station and two presentation drawings of the station. Longfellow signed the drawings "Excelsior."
railroad stations
trains (vehicle groupings)
presentation drawings (proposals)
architectural drawings (visual works)
4 architectural drawings
2 ink on linen
2 presentation drawings
These drawings were in private ownership until Historic New England purchased them.
AR024
Boston Elevated Railroad station design competition drawings collection
AR024
Library & Archives Purchase
Purchased with a bequest from David Cummings.
Longfellow, A. W. (Alexander Wadsworth), 1854-1934 (Architect)
presentation drawings (proposals)
architectural drawings (visual works)
Boston Elevated Railway Company
This collection is available for research.
O'Gorman, James F.. (1989.). On the boards: drawings by nineteenth-century Boston architects. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,.
O'Gorman, James F., Condon, Lorna, Monkhouse, Christopher P., Reed, Roger, Shettleworth, Earle G.. (2010). Drawing toward Home: designs for domestic architecture from Historic New England. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House Publishers.
Collection
The materials are entirely in English.
[Item identification.] Boston Elevated Railroad station design competition drawings (AR024). Historic New England Library & Archives.
Finding aid prepared by Abigail Cramer, May, 2013.
This finding aid is DACS compliant.
Boston Transit Archive, 1895-1960s
Sketchbook, William Robert Ware, undated
In 1898, the Boson Elevated Railroad Company held a competition for the design of their island stations which was judged by William Robert Ware. Ten contestants submitted designs for stations that would cost no more than $10,000. These stations were for use along the the line running from Sullivan Square to Forest Hills, now called the Orange Line but referred to as the "Main Line El" at the time of the competition. Alexander W. Longfellow, Jr. submitted the drawings in this collection and won the competition. The line opened in 1901. Longfellow, nephew of the poet, was an influential Boston architect during the late 1800s.
O'Gorman, James F. "On the Boards." Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press (1989).
Historic New England is committed to implementing reparative language description for existing collections and creating respectful and inclusive language description for new collections. If you encounter language in Historic England's Collections Access Portal that is harmful or offensive, or you find materials that would benefit from a content warning, please contact [email protected].
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