headhouseEtymologyFrom head + house.nounThe 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.”The overground portion of a subway station.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.”