What does "headhouse" mean?

The portion of a passenger railway terminal not housing the tracks and platforms, comprising ticket counters, baggage facilities, etc.

Headhouse

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The portion of a passenger railway terminal not housing the tracks and platforms, comprising ticket counters, baggage facilities, etc.
"Several members cast it as an either-or issue, pitting the form of the headhouse against the function of the passageway."
2
The overground portion of a subway station.
3
A structure built at the top of a ventilation shaft or mineshaft.
"HS2 Ltd has unveiled the final design for the Little Missenden ventilation shaft headhouse on the ten-mile-long Chilterns Tunnel. Its single-storey design is said to have been inspired by barns and historic agricultural buildings in the area. [...] The headhouse will sit above a ventilation shaft 17.4 metres in diameter and 30 metres deep."

"Several members cast it as an either-or issue, pitting the form of the headhouse against the function of the passageway."

From head + house.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.