Richardsonian Romanesque

North Easton Railroad Depot // 1881

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Located within the historic village of North Easton, Massachusetts, the town’s old railroad depot is a rare case of a humble commuter stop designed by one of America’s great architects. The Easton Branch Railroad opened in 1855 and was later absorbed into the Old Colony Railroad, which was led by Frederick Lothrop Ames, whose shovel-making empire shaped the town. In 1881, Ames hired Henry Hobson Richardson, the Boston architect whose bold style became known as Richardsonian Romanesque, to design a new gatehouse for his estate, and a new railroad depot for his hometown. Rather than a plain wooden shed, Richardson gave the Old Colony Railroad stop a sturdy presence in rough-faced stone, with a broad, sweeping roof that dips low over deep eaves and rounded arches that welcomes travelers beneath its shelter. Beyond his exceptional use of materiality and understanding of building forms, Richardson even decorated the building with hidden features like a bullseye glass bowed window on the track side, snarling beasts in the woodwork, and waiting benches with lion’s head armrests. As rail was largely replaced by the automobile in the 20th century, train service terminated in North Easton in 1958. A decade later, in 1969, the Ames family purchased the property from the Penn Central Railroad and donated it to the Easton Historical Society, who maintain the architecturally significant building and hold their museum within. The depot sits within a larger ensemble of Richardson-designed buildings in the village for members of the Ames family, showcasing their influence and an assortment of various building types all designed by one of the United States’ finest 19th century architects, all within a short walk from each other.

North Easton Savings Bank and Post Office // 1904

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Located across the street from the iconic Oakes Ames Memorial Hall and the Ames Free Library, the North Easton Savings Bank and Post Office building perfectly compliments the Richardsonian Romanesque enclave found in the village, but it was not designed by the renowned architect whom the style is named after. The building was constructed in 1904 from plans by the firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, a Boston-based firm that grew out of Henry Hobson Richardson’s practice after his death in 1886. For this building, which served as a bank and local post office, the firm employed many of the hallmarks of the Richardsonian Romanesque style, just in a refined, less elaborate style. The building has walls of rough-faced granite ashlar blocks with brownstone trim and engaged columns. The three-bay front façade contains the centered entrance, recessed within a wide brownstone arch in the signature Richardsonian manner. The bank moved out of the building in the 1960s, and the building has served as professional offices ever-since, and is a contributing resource in the iconic enclave of buildings in North Easton.

Ames Free Library // 1879

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One of the most architecturally significant library buildings in the United States, the Ames Free Library in the small town of Easton, Massachusetts, is a landmark example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style designed by its namesake, Henry Hobson Richardson. The library in the village of North Easton was funded as part of the will of Oliver Ames Jr., who left $50,000 for the construction of a library for his native town. The request was carried out by Ames’ children, Frederick Lothrop Ames and Helen Angier Ames, who hired Henry Hobson Richardson to design the new structure. Richardson had recently completed the Trinity Church in Boston and was designing a library in Woburn at the time the Ames Family first commissioned him to put Easton on the map. Richardson would later design four other buildings in Easton for members of the Ames Family, including the Oakes Ames Memorial Building next door to the library. The Ames family also contracted architect Stanford White for the fireplace in the reading room and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens for the decorative medallions of the library’s benefactor. Construction started on the library in 1878 and it was completed in 1879, but the library did not open until 1883, possibly due to cost overruns. Essentially rectangular in plan, the Ames Library features three main masses: a longitudinal block; a stair tower with a pyramidal roof; and larger gable entry projection. The library is built of ashlar granite blocks and brownstone trim, which frames the openings. Over fifty years after the library was completed, the 1931 children’s wing was added onto the rear. The gift of Fanny Holt Ames, the addition was designed by Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, who continued Richardson’s architectural firm upon his death in 1886. The addition of brick showcases how materiality and certain design changes can effectively showcase the evolution of a building without detracting from its original design and integrity.

Oakes Ames Memorial Hall // 1881

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Located in the center of North Easton, Massachusetts, the landmark Oakes Ames Memorial Hall is the work of famed architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, and among one of the finest of his buildings. In 1879, the children of Oakes Ames (1804-1873), an extremely wealthy businessman, industrialist and congressman from Easton, commissioned the great American architect to design a Memorial Hall as a tribute to their father. Richardson, the architect of Boston’s beloved Trinity Church in Copley Square, responded with this picturesque masterpiece in his eponymous Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style, with walls of rusticated granite that are articulated with contrasting brownstone at the arches, window and door surrounds, and deep band courses. The Ames Memorial Hall is sited atop a rocky outcropping with the building accessed by a grand brownstone stair and landscaping designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The building is relatively square in form and features a prominent corner tower, an arcaded entry of five massive arches on squat columns, and a steeply peaked roof finished in red terracotta. Often overlooked, the frieze at the top of the tower is lined with ornamental carvings of the signs of the Zodiac in brownstone. The building was provided to the Town of Easton by the Ames Family “for all the ordinary purposes of a town hall”, but it was never used for its intended purpose as the town hall, and has mainly served as a meeting space for groups and events. The Town of Easton does a commendable job preserving these nationally significant Richardson-designed landmarks for all to enjoy.

Goodnow Memorial Library, Princeton // 1883

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Perched on a hill at the northern boundary of its town common, the Goodnow Memorial Library in Princeton, Massachusetts, is one of the state’s finest and best-preserved libraries. The building was largely funded by wealthy businessman and benefactor, Edward Augustus Goodnow (1810-1905), who deeded the land and building to the town for use as a public library and schoolhouse. The building was constructed in memory of his two of his four wives and only son. The building was completed in 1883 and designed by Worcester architect, Stephen C. Earle (who would also design the Princeton Town Hall/Bagg Hall, funded by Goodnow a year later). The terms of the gift by Goodnow stipulated that the building would serve jointly as library and public school until the library required additional space. The school remained here until the Princeton Center School opened in 1906, since that time, the Goodnow Memorial building has been used exclusively as a public library. The handsome Richardsonian Romanesque style building has walls of of pink Milford granite with rough-faced Longmeadow brownstone trim. The building features a prominent clocktower with its face in polychromatic masonry. The building is one of the finest of its type in New England, and has been lovingly preserved by the community for well over a century.

Memorial Hall, Milford // 1884

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Designed by architect Fred Swasey in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, Memorial Hall in Milford, Massachusetts, is one of the finest examples of the style in the state and is built of locally quarried Milford granite with Longmeadow brownstone. The building was constructed in 1884 to serve multiple purposes: a free public library, meeting hall for the local Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) lodge, and most importantly, a memorial to honor the Civil War soldiers and sailors of Milford and nearby Hopedale. As a true Memorial Hall, the building features cannons in the front yard and on its facade, carved brownstone panels inscribed “Farragut” and “Grant” after Civil War generals, David Farragut and Ulysses S. Grant. Inside, the main staircase features the names of iconic Civil War battles and the entry features large marble panels with the list of local men who fought and died to fight for the nation. The library moved out of the building in 1986 when the current library was built behind Memorial Hall, and since then, the space has been occupied by the Milford Historical Commission as a local history museum space.

George G. Hall Stables // 1895

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The George G. Hall Stables on Byron Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood were built in 1895 for George G. Hall, a wealthy hotelier and developer, who razed three private stables occupying the site prior. For his private stables, George Hall hired Boston architect, William Whitney Lewis, to furnish the plans, which resulted in one of the finest buildings on the Flat of Beacon Hill. Designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the building was described in architectural publications as being constructed of Milford pink granite and coral-colored bricks with two carriage doors and a door for the stable-keeper with an extant hayloft on the second floor. While from afar, the stables are stunning, it is when you inspect it up-close that you see the attention to detail that was taken by the architect. Round stone medallions on the facade read: “G.G.H.” after its owner; “No. 11, 12, & 13”, the addresses; and “1895”, the year of construction. Additionally, at the ends of the arched stable openings, carved dog heads can be found, keeping guard of the horses inside. The stable was later converted to three residences in the 1960s by the architectural firm of Goody & Clancy, Associates.

Hopedale Town Hall // 1886

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In 1886, when the Town of Hopedale was incorporated, George Draper, the head of the Draper Corporation, bankrolled $40,000 for the design and construction of a new town hall building for his new hometown. Designed to house municipal offices, a meeting hall, the town’s library, with ground floor commercial spaces, the building is the work of architect, Frederick Swasey. The Richardsonian Romanesque style town hall is constructed of Milford granite with contrasting trim in Longmeadow sandstone with a lot of great detailing and a prominent entry arch with engaged colonettes. Before the building opened, its donor, George Draper died, and the building was officially donated to the town by his heirs. After over 100 years as the town hall, in 2025, the town voted to sell the building as its restoration and updates to make the building fully accessible would be too expensive. As of the time of posting, the building’s future is uncertain, but the building really needs to be preserved!

Old Wolf’s Head Society Building // 1884

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The Wolf’s Head was established in 1883 as one of Yale’s secret societies. It was intended as an alternative to the more established Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key societies, and it made a statement when it completed this clubhouse in 1884. The handsome Richardsonian Romanesque clubhouse at the corner of Prospect and Trumbull streets in New Haven was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead and White, which would go on to become one of the leading architectural firms in the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The rough-faced brownstone structure was historically covered in climbing ivy, adding to the building’s mysterious nature. Wolf’s Head made it their home from 1884 until 1924 when the building was sold to the University and Wolf’s Head moved to new quarters on York Street. The building was rented to clubs for years until the early 1960s, when it started to be used for faculty offices, staff and classrooms. The building was added onto and today, the old Wolf’s Head is used by the Institution for Social and Policy Studies.

Seamans Block // 1888

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One of the more impressive commercial blocks in Brookline is located at the corner of Washington Street and Davis Avenue in Brookline Village. The Seamans Block was developed by its namesake, James Manning Seamans (1834-1908), a wealthy grocer who operated a store from the building. The handsome masonry block was built from designs by the firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, a successor firm to H.H. Richardson. As partner of the firm, Charles H. Rutan lived just down Davis Avenue, it is likely that he was in charge of this design. The structure follows the Richardsonian Romanesque style, popularized by Richardson through the rounded corner and heavy arches, but is done entirely in brick rather than adding brownstone or terracotta detailing. The building has long been an excellent example of a historic “mixed-use” block with ground floor retain and apartments above, something that many new developments try and emulate today. 

Former Birmingham National Bank // 1892

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The former Birmingham National Bank building on Main Street in Derby, Connecticut, is one of the finest buildings in the former industrial village of Derby (originally named Birmingham). The bank was originally chartered in 1848 as the Manufacturers Bank of Birmingham, with Edward N. Shelton as its first president, and became a national bank after the Civil War. Designed by architect Warren R. Briggs and constructed in 1892, the building features an elaborately detailed facade of red sandstone with terracotta trim in the Sullivanesque and Romanesque Revival styles. Like many local and regional banks in the mid-late 20th century, the bank merged with others and the building was vacated. Today, the former Birmingham National Bank building is occupied by the Twisted Vine restaurant.

Derby United Methodist Church // 1894

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The former Derby United Methodist Church (now the Ghana United Methodist Church) is located at the northern edge of the Town Green in Derby, Connecticut, and is a great example of a ecclesiastical building constructed in the Romanesque Revival style. Its large round arches, tall square tower, and heavy detailing in brick and brownstone place it in the Romanesque Revival mode, all with stained glass throughout. The church was built in 1894 and dedicated in early 1895. The stately church building was designed by George Washington Kramer (1847-1938), an architect who designed many Methodist churches in the midwest and east coast.

South Main Street Engine House, Providence // 1892

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Built as a neighborhood fire station by the City of Providence in 1892, this handsome brick structure on South Main Street showcases how infrastructure and civic buildings can (and should) still contribute to the streetscape. Constructed along a streetscape of early 19th century brick buildings, the local architectural firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson, sought to take cues of the materiality and massing of nearby structures, but employ new detailing and vocabulary for the fire station here. The result is a Romanesque style fire station with a pair of round-arched engine portals surrounded by stone facing, with the showstopping second floor and roofline with ornate brickwork around the arched windows and multi-staged corbeled cornice. The building with its smaller engine doors became obsolete with newer, larger fire trucks, and the building has since held a variety of commercial uses, today as a up-scale Italian restaurant.

Westborough Rail Station // 1899

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The Boston-Worcester Railroad roared into Westborough Square in 1834 and opened the once rural community to commerce and trade from its larger neighbors. The depot was in the center of the village and facilitated a development boom of commercial buildings. By the later 19th century, the Boston and Albany Railroad controlled the railway service and had built up an extensive passenger and freight service. The company sought to straighten out the track, thus increasing its speed and efficiency, so the B&A relocated the track in 1899 from the center of Westborough to its present elevated site on East Main Street, outside the commercial core of the town. The new station was built in 1899 and is a late example of the region’s many Richardsonian Romanesque stations, constructed of rusticated pale granite with contrasting brownstone trim; copper ornament; and a simple rectangular-plan structure topped by a low, overhanging hipped roof. Decades before this station was built, the Boston & Albany Railroad in 1881, hired renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson to design a series of passenger stations. Over the next five years, Richardson was responsible for nine B&A stations, primarily closer to Boston and the nearer suburbs. After Richardson’s death in 1886, the B&A commissioned his successors, Shepley Rutan & Coolidge, to design 23 additional stations between 1886 and 1894. The unofficial style of B&A stations remained after 1894 and was employed in Westborough to a lesser ornate scale. Train service to town ceased here, but the tracks remain active. The former station was converted to office use. 

Prospect Hill Congregational Church // 1887

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Located at the corner of Bow and Walnut streets in Somerville’s Union Square commercial center, the former Prospect Hill Congregational Church is one of the finest examples of the Richardsonian Romanesque style in the city. The congregation here was established in 1874 and originally met in private residences before erecting its first building on Warren Street in 1876. After two decades, the membership and prosperity of the congregation grew, allowing it to purchase a more prominent lot nearby and the ability to hire an architect for a new, substantial building. Architect Henry Squarebridge McKay furnished plans for the masonry building in 1887, clearly taking inspiration from the late Henry Hobson Richardson, who died the year prior. The church is constructed of brick with stone trimmings, features irregular massing with tall belfry tower, and a large arched entrance. After WWII, the congregation dwindled, and the building was later sold off. In the 1980s, the church was converted to residential use but without altering the exterior.