East Hampton LIRR station to be restored to its original look

The East Hampton Long Island Rail Road Station is set to be restored to its historic appearance more than 120 years after it was built.

The station, which was built in 1895, will again have a brick exterior and a green canopy when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority completes the renovation project that starts next year, officials said.

It is one of 16 LIRR stations scheduled to receive upgrades under a $120 million state program announced earlier this year, said LIRR spokeswoman Sarah Armaghan. Program upgrades, which will be customized for each station, are to include Wi-Fi, charging stations, public art and digital information screens.

East Hampton Village Mayor Paul Rickenbach Jr. said officials are “thrilled” that the threshold of the community will be rehabilitated.

“It’s a landmark location,” Rickenbach said Tuesday. “You come into our beautiful village and it tells the story of what it’s like to enter America’s most beautiful village.”

But the station, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, is “showing its age,” Rickenbach said.

The exterior white and gray paint is peeling enough to show the brick underneath, and triangular dormer windows on the roof have been covered up. Inside, floor tiles are mismatched and gray benches are chipped.

Renderings of the MTA’s plans show the dormer windows replaced, the floors refinished and the benches repainted.

“LIRR officials have worked closely along with East Hampton Village officials, including a village historian, to ensure the renovations restore and enhance its original structural details,” Armaghan said.

Robert Hefner, the East Hampton Village historic services director, said the building has kept most of its historic elements, but was painted a light color that was “in vogue at the time” around the 1960s.

“The setting has changed quite a lot,” Hefner said Monday. “When it was built, there was grass all around. Now there’s all concrete and pavement.”

Renovations also are to include safety improvements such as raising the railroad tracks about 3 feet, LIRR officials said.

Village officials are most excited about the MTA replacing bridges on North Main Street and Accabonac Road and raising their trestle heights because they “have one of the highest accident rates” of being hit by trucks, Village Administrator Rebecca Molinaro Hansen said.

The one downside is the new height will allow more commercial vehicles to pass through, increasing traffic, Rickenbach said.

Railroad officials said the agency could not detail the exact cost for the work in East Hampton, but Hansen said officials estimated it would be about $20 million.

The construction timeline for the station has not been set yet.

“We’re just excited because if it’s brought back to its original splendor, it’ll be an exclamation mark when people disembark the train,” Rickenbach said.

By Rachelle Blidner

rachelle.blidner@newsday.com@rachelleblidner

Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.