Click above images to enlarge Grand Trunk Western Railroad Birmingham Depot 245Eton, Birmingham - Oakland County Other Names Norman's Eton Street Station Birmingham Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot Landmark-Local Property Type railroad depot Historic Use TRANSPORTATION/rail related Current Use COMMERCE/TRADE/restaurant Style Tudor Revival Architect/Builder Albert H. Aldinger George B. Walbridge Narrative Description The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Birmingham Depot is a rectangular, gable-roofed structure of red brown brick, fronted by a projecting white limestone, gabled, entranceway containing a recessed round-head entrance. The Vermont slate roof is pierced by several gables displaying herringbone and basketweave brickwork. The structure has a concrete foundation and utilizes structural steel framing. Statement of Significance The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Birmingham Depot is the principal manifestation in Birmingham of that city's long history of rail passenger service as a stop on the line between Detroit and Pontiac. It also recalls the response of a Michigan governor and a long-established rail line to changing transportation needs for Detroit's northern suburbs at the outset of the Great Depression. Constructed at a cost of $125,000 by Walbridge and Aldinger, Detroit building contractors, the Birmingham station has architectural note as a scaled-down imitation of the Birmingham, England, train station. After a leap in Oakland County's population between 1920 and 1930 and consequent tripling in the number of automobiles using Woodward Avenue , Michigan highway officials pressed the need for a wider right-of-way for Woodward Avenue. In November 1923 the Michigan Legislature passed the "Wider Woodward Act." The Grand Trunk Railroad opposed the new legislation calling for a two hundred-foot width because its tracks ran directly along the eastern edge of Woodward Avenue through most of the route from Detroit to Pontiac. Governor Alexander Groesbeck (1921-1926) induced the 1925 session of the Legislature to adopt legislation threatening to revoke the railroad's charter if the Grand Trunk did not cooperate. The Grand Trunk agreed to abandon its right-of-way and move its tracks a mile east of Woodward Avenue. In October 1930, ground was broken for a new passenger and freight station in Birmingham on the Grand Trunk's new line between Detroit and Pontiac. In 1978 the Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority allowed its lease with Grand Trunk to expire and the depot was vacated. In 1979, the depot was purchased and re-opened as Norman's Eton Street Station, a restaurant. Period of Significance 1931-1945 Significant Date(s) built 1930-1931 Registry Type(s) 09/12/1985 National Register listed Site ID# P4068