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Description:
The Western Maryland Railway Station is a straightforward, commercial style building which expresses the architectural functionalism of the turn of the 20th century. The brick structure is nine bays long and three bays wide. It is two monumental stories tall on the west facade and three stories on the east with dormers in the hip roof. A massive, modillioned cornice encircles the structure. Three brick-faced gable-roofed 2/2 sash dormers with stepped pediments are located directly over the three central bays on the longer facades. There are dormers over the second and eighth bays. A pair of tall corbeled chimneys protrude from the east and west sides of the roof; each pair flanks the three dormers. The shorter, three-bay facades have one dormer over the central bay. Each bay is defined by a segmentally arched recessed panel which extends from the ground to the top story. Within each panel on the first floor is a rectangular three-part window with three transoms. The top story, three-part windows have transoms which follow the segmentally arched panel. The three-bay facades have similarly shaped two-part windows in each bay. A band of decorative brick encircles the structure below the cornice. Brick disks regularly interrupt the band, defining each bay. A one-story porch runs along the west facade and extends out toward the tracks.
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Significance:
During the first half of the 20th century, Cumberland was the most important stop on the Western Maryland Railway system between Chicago and Baltimore. The demolition of the Baltimore and Ohio's Queen City Hotel left this 2-story brick station the sole survivor of the city's transportation past. Built in 1913, the station is a large commercial-style building, an expression of the architectural functionalism of the turn of the 20th century.
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