Location: 7823 W Berkshire Rd, Enosburg Falls, VT 05450
The Vermont border station located at West Berkshire is one of twelve surviving complexes erected between 1931 and 1937 along the Vermont-Quebec border. This handsome Georgian Revival building, designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury and constructed in 1935, shares common technical, stylistic and programmatic features with other stations constructed at that time.
As a group, the border stations are closely associated with three major themes in twentieth century American history: Prohibition (1919-1933), the popularization of the automobile, and the Depression of the 1930’s. The stations are also part of a massive public building program that nearly doubled the number of Federal buildings, and was coupled with the extensive rebuilding of Vermont’s road system following the Great Flood of November 3, 1927.
Today, the large concentration of contemporary, architecturally-related border stations surviving in Vermont is exceptional within the context of the United States. Of this group, the West Berkshire station is based upon the most widely used design in the state, and is virtually identical to stations at Richford and North Troy. Beyond projecting and iconographic image of American architecture at the international border, the West Berkshire border station is one of the major masonry public buildings located in the town of West Berkshire. It retains much of its original character-defining features, notably morphology, plan, masonry detailing and much fenestration.
Facts
- Architect: Simon, Louis A.
- Construction Date: 1935
- GSA Building Number: VT0851BW
- Landmark Status: Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
U.S. General Services Administration
