Memphis & Charleston Freight Depot, 330 Church Street Northwest, Huntsville, Madison County, AL

Significance: The freight depot, erected in 1856, is one of the oldest surviving rail facilities in Alabama. Its Italianate architecture is typical of other commercial buildings of the era. / The depot comprises 5400 square feet of enclosed space. The platform area comprises approximately 3900 square feet, and roof area about 10,000 square feet normal to the roof planes. Construction is brick with a heartwood, heavy-timber roof frame. Railroad tracks front the south face of the building. An approximately 50-ft concrete slab and concrete-block platform was added to the west of the southwest corner of the building at mid-twentieth century. The original roof material is unknown. Metal roof patches were added in the early 1990s to an otherwise cement-fiber shingled roof. An Italianate character is suggested by the depot's broad, over hanging, and bracketed eaves, segmentally arched lintels on its doors and windows, louvered roundels, and decorative brick work. On the building's west and east sides, the eaves cantilever out to cover the staging areas where cotton and other commodities were moved from the cars to the warehouse interior.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N889
Survey number: HAER AL-190
Building/structure dates: ca. 1856 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: after 2004 Demolished