Control Point Virginia Tower
This tower is a remnant of an earlier era of Washington railway operation.
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The Control Point Virginia Tower is a two-story, late Victorian railroad interlocking control tower. It was erected circa 1905 as a railroad interlocking station, responsible for mechanically switching trains between the First Street tunnel connection to Union Station and the main Pennsylvania Railroad line along Virginia Avenue. The tower was one piece of a massive turn-of-the-century reconstruction, rationalization, and unification of District railway facilities that included the construction of a single "union" station.
Control Point Virginia is among the last of seven contemporaneous interlocking towers in Washington, a rare fixture of century old train operations. The tower represents a very specific vernacular architectural style created for railroad interlocking technology in the early 20th century, and it is one of two interlocking towers still extant in Washington, DC.
DC Inventory: March 24, 2016
