Conductor's Building, Railway administrative building near Harvard Square in Cambridge, United States
The Conductor's Building is a two-story brick building on Bennett Alley, 144 feet long and only 20 feet wide, between Mount Auburn Street and Bennett Street near Harvard Square. Built in 1912 for the Boston Elevated Railway, it was renovated from 2014 to 2017 and now houses the American Chinese restaurant and tiki bar Wusong Road, which opened in December 2021.
Built in 1912 as the headquarters of the Boston Elevated Railway's 7th Division, the narrow two-story brick building is the only original structure surviving from the construction of the Cambridge subway. The BERy was absorbed into the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1947, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 27, 1988 as a contributing property to the Harvard Square Historic District. The MBTA left it around 2000, and Carpenter & Company bought it in 2012.
The building's name comes from the conductors and motormen who used its ground-floor lobby. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Boston Elevated R.Y. Offices, a contributing property to the Harvard Square Historic District. Since December 2021 it has housed Wusong Road, an American Chinese restaurant and tiki bar.
The building sits on Bennett Alley, a narrow private way between Mount Auburn Street and Bennett Street, a short walk from Harvard Square station. The MBTA keeps a permanent easement through the alley for buses, so expect vehicles passing close to the facade. The ground floor holds the Wusong Road restaurant and tiki bar; the upper floor is not open to visitors.
The building is only 20 feet (6.1 m) wide but 144 feet (44 m) long, a proportion forced by its slot between Bennett Alley and the street. Its basement held storage areas, locker rooms and bathrooms for conductors and motormen, while the second floor included a small public waiting room.
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