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Former Chicopee Public Library // 1911

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Tucked to the side of the towering City Hall building on Market Square in Chicopee, Massachusetts, this long-vacant former public library is undergoing a major renovation to convert the building to a business incubator and community hub. The library was built in 1911 and was designed by the Springfield architectural firm of Kirkham & Parlett and is a great example of a Classical Revival style civic building with its strict symmetry, Ionic columned and pedimented entrance, and corner quoins. The original town library was organized as early as 1846 under the name “Cabot Institute” a subscription-based library. In 1853, the Cabot Institute donated its collection of nine hundred books to form a public library. The town voted that year to support a public library from tax dollars, making the Chicopee Public Library the first library funded by public funds in Western Massachusetts. The library was located in the City Hall building when it was completed in 1871, and was later moved out of the building to make space for the Board of Aldermen offices. In 1907, Mrs. Sarah Cooley Spaulding bequeathed $20,000 in her will towards a new library building as a memorial to her late husband, Justin Spaulding, and in May 1913, the Chicopee Library opened its first building built solely for the purpose of being a library. The library was expanded in the latter half of the 20th century and ultimately outgrew its space, with the City building a new library in 2004 on Front Street. This library closed at that time and had sat vacant until plans were unveiled to re-imagine this significant building as a community hub. I love to see old buildings repurposed rather than demolished!

Albany Building // 1899

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One of the last major 19th century buildings erected in Boston’s Leather District is also one of the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in the city. This is the Albany Building, built in 1899, and fills an entire city block. The Albany Building was designed by Peabody and Stearns and built by Norcross Brothers as the offices for the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Its two-story base is adorned with swags and cartouches and its fifth floor is topped with a complex cornice. The use of beveled corners and ornate detailing break up the massing of the building which otherwise, would read like a box. The building today serves as an important visual gateway into the Leather District and its context of late 19th century commercial blocks centered around the leather and shoe manufacturing businesses.

South Station // 1899

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When the railroads serving Boston were first laid out and built, each line stopped at its own terminal which created a dysfunctional and cumbersome travel experience for those entering or leaving the city. The Boston Terminal Company, established in 1897, was charged with the task of consolidating service from the four terminals at a single terminal, a union station (similar to North Station), for routes south of the city. South Station was designed by architects were Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston and quickly became New England’s busiest transportation center. The five-story Classical Revival style station built of stone is an architectural landmark with three-story Ionic colonnade crowned by a clock surmounted by an eagle, stands above the triple-arched brick masonry lower level corner entrance. While the station handled 125,000 passengers each day during World War II, post-war passenger rail traffic declined in the US. South Station was sold to the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 1965 and (surprise!) they demolished portions of the building and later developed plans to demolish the rest of the station and replace it with a multi-use development including a new train and bus station with large parking garage. Luckily for everyone, the BRA failed in this endeavor and the building remained to the point where public transportation is again invested in and beloved and the building has since been restored. Recently, a glass “crown”, known as South Station Tower, a 51-story designed by Pelli, Clarke & Partners, with new office space, luxury residences, and a redesigned, arched interior concourse (which in my opinion, is the best part). The redevelopment is a push towards transit-oriented development and blends new and old in an innovative way.

What do you think of it?

South Street Diner // c.1947

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One of the hidden gems of Boston can be found tucked away in the Leather District, one of the last remaining diner cars in the city, this is South Street Diner. At this site, at the corner of South and Kneeland streets, a diner car has existed since about 1935. In 1947 the present diner car was built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company and moved on this site as the Blue Diner opened, possibly named after its patrons, largely blue-collar workers. The diner would be renamed the South Street diner in 1992, a name that has stuck ever-since. The diner attracts tourists, nearby workers, and drunken college students, serving as a much-needed melting pot for people of different backgrounds to grab a good bite to eat.

Faxon Block // 1886

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This impressive commercial block is prominently sited at the corner of Beach and South streets in Boston’s Leather District, a wonderful enclave of late 19th and early 20th century mercantile buildings, historically centered around the leather and shoe-making industries. Like many in this block, the building was developed by the Faxon Brothers, some of the major developers of this district and areas of Quincy. Also like many other buildings in the Leather District, the block was designed by 1886 in the Romanesque Revival style, constructed of brick and brownstone with a clipped corner and Syrian arches and an oculus window at the fifth floor. The building was designed by relatively unknown architect, John H. Besarick and today houses professional offices.

Beebe Building // 1886

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Located at 127-133 South Street in the under-appreciated Leather District of Boston, the 1886 Beebe Building is an excellent vestige of the leathergoods trade and commercial architecture of the late 19th century. This building was constructed by J. Franklin Faxon (1832-1912), a business owner who engaged in real estate development and built a number of commercial blocks in this part of Boston. Rand & Taylor, architects, designed the building in an effective blending of Classical and Romanesque styles with rock faced brownstone ashlar above the storefronts, oculus windows, and segmental arched openings on the top floor. The Classical detailing of the two-story brick pilasters and modillion cornice add to its complexity. The building was originally occupied by the Thomas E. Proctor Leather Company and was later purchased by leather goods company Lucius Beebe & Sons and the storefront was renovated by Hutchins & French in 1930. The building has since been known as the Beebe Building and has been well-maintained by subsequent owners.  

Former Cornwall Public Library // 1908

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Constructed of random-coursed stone, this charming building in Cornwall, Connecticut, exhibits a prominent classical entry, Tuscan pilasters, and modillion eaves. This handsome structure was completed in late 1908 following a substantial donation to the town for it’s first purpose-built library by summer resident John E. Calhoun. Mr. Calhoun had cultivated an interest in architecture and is said to have designed the building, and later designed his own home in the village years later. The high-style architectural building documents the transformation of Cornwall from a sleepy agricultural town into a fashionable residential retreat in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The building operated as the town’s public library until 2002 when the contemporary library building was completed. This stone structure was converted to the town hall.

Old Goshen Town Hall – Goshen Players // 1895

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The first purpose-built official town building of Goshen, Connecticut, was this wood-frame structure at the main junction in the central village as the town’s first town hall. Built in 1895, the structure originally housed offices for the selectmen and town clerk, a fireproof vault for records, and a large audience-room with stage for town meetings and ceremonies. The building employs a more traditional form similar to the old Greek Revival meetinghouses built in New England in the first half of the 19th century, but with a shingled, Victorian entry tower with bell roof. When the Town of Goshen moved into its present town hall building, this structure became the home to the Goshen Players, a community theatre established in 1949, and is the second oldest continuously performing theatre group in the state.

Israel Putnam House // c.1648

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The General Israel Putnam House in Danvers, Massachusetts, was built circa 1648 by Lieutenant Thomas Putnam on farmland that then consisted of 100 acres. In 1692, his youngest son, Joseph Putnam, lived here, inheriting the property over his half-brother, Thomas Putnam, Jr. (1652-1699), causing friction within the family. During the infamous witch trials and hysteria in Salem Village, Joseph Putnam was one of two people who took notes during the examinations of the first three to be accused of witchcraft in 1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. From that point forward, he was one of the most outspoken opponents of the proceedings, which put him in direct conflict with most of the Putnam family, especially that of his half-brother Thomas. Fearing accusations against him by his half-brother, Joseph was said to have kept horses saddled at all times, ready to escape at a moment’s notice. He was never accused, though Thomas Putnam was responsible for the accusations of 43 people, and his daughter was responsible for 62. In 1718, Israel Putnam, the son of Joseph Putnam, and later Commander of the colonial troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill, was born in this house. It is the only extant structure with direct ties to Commander Putnam. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, Putnam is thought to have ordered William Prescott to tell his troops, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” This command has since become one of the American Revolution’s notable quotations. It was given to make the best use of the low ammunition stocks that the troops had. The Putnam House remained in the family into the 20th century, and due to highway and commercial expansion, the property now sits in the middle of a cloverleaf intersection of two highways. The house was given by the Putnam family to the Danvers Historical Society in 1991, but as of 2020, the Putnam family once again owns the property. The house is not holding up well and I could not locate plans for restoration or preservation of it online. This house deserves to be preserved.

Maine State Building // 1893

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The Maine State Building is a one-of-a-kind landmark located in the Poland Springs Historic District of Poland, Maine, though it was not originally built in this location! The Victorian structure was built in 1893 at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago (aka the Chicago World’s Fair) as one of the State Buildings constructed by each U.S. state to highlight their history. Designed by Chicago architect Charles Sumner Frost, a Lewiston, Maine native and MIT graduate, the building was constructed of granite with a slate roof. After the close of the fair, the Ricker family of Poland Spring, purchased the building from the state. They had it dismantled, moved to Maine, and rebuilt on their resort, which brought even more visitors to their property. In Maine, it reopened in 1895 as a library and art gallery for their hotel guests. Along with the Norway Building in Norway, The Dutch House in Brookline (a personal favorite), the Palace of Fine Arts (now the Museum of Science and Industry) and World Congress Auxiliary Building (now the Art Institute of Chicago) in Chicago, the Maine State Building is one of the few remaining buildings from the 1893 World’s Fair, and the only State Building remaining. It has been lovingly preserved and operated by the Poland Spring Historical Society, who operate the building as a museum.