Romanesque

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.

Waterman Building, RISD // 1892

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The Waterman Building located on Waterman Street on Providence’s East Side is architecturally significant as an example of the Romanesque Revival style, as well as historically significant as the first purpose-built building for the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The school originally opened in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the accessibility of design education to women, in rented space within the Hoppin Homestead Building in Downtown Providence. As the school grew coinciding with the appreciation of the arts in the late 19th century, the school’s board and president sought to provide a permanent site for the young institution. A site was purchased across from the First Baptist Church and the local firm of Hoppin, Read and Hoppin was hired to furnish designs. The short-lived partnership of Providence-born brothers Howard and Francis L. V. Hoppin and Spencer P. Read, laid out the building with studios on the upper two stories lit by arched windows on the second floor and skylights on the top floor, with a museum and classrooms occupied on the first floor. With an intricate brick facade adorned by terracotta medallions, unique cornice, and lattice brickwork in the spandrels, the building is befitting for an arts institution.

Former Central Congregational Church – Memorial Hall, RISD // 1853

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An early example of the Romanesque Revival style, the former Central Congregational Church on Benefit Street in Providence’s East Side is architecturally significant as one of the remaining designs by architect, Thomas Tefft and built from 1853-1856. Thomas A. Tefft (1826-1859) was one of the nation’s first professionally trained architects and was a master of Rundbogenstil, a German-branch of the Romanesque style until his untimely death in Italy when he was just 33. When this church was completed in 1856, Tefft was just thirty years old. The brownstone facade is adorned by triple-arched entrances and corbelling. The congregation grew and decades later, acquired a site in the neighborhood for a larger, Carrere and Hastings-designed church, vacating this building in 1893. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) purchased this former church in 1902 following a donation by Eliza Radeke and her brothers who named the building Memorial Hall. The firm of Hoppin and Ely was hired to update the former church for use by the college, which primarily took place on the interior. The original pair of tall bell towers were damaged during the 1938 hurricane and later were removed in 1950, truncating the verticality of this great Tefft-designed building, but she still shines! Memorial Hall has been incorporated into the RISD campus and houses studio spaces.

Sears Chapel, Longwood // 1860

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Christ’s Church in Longwood, better known as Sears Chapel, is among the finest ecclesiastical buildings in Brookline and commands its site on a rise overlooking the Muddy River, now the Riverway in the Emerald Necklace park system. The area presently known as Longwood was originally marshland with a few farms until the building of the Mill Dam road out of Boston in 1821 that improved access to Brookline, which opened up its connectivity and development potential. Wealthy Boston businessman, David Sears (1787-1871) recognized this, and began buying the low-lying pasturelands in Brookline near the Boston border. By 1830, some squares were laid out and development began in the Cottage Farm and Longwood sections. He, with associates, began building country estates for friends and family to escape the crowded conditions of Boston. He is said to have named his neighborhood “Longwood”, after Napoleon’s estate on St. Helena where he spent his days in exile. An avid amateur horticulturist, Sears planted some 14,000 trees, many of them imported from Europe, in the course of developing his land. In keeping with his faith, Sears built this house of worship, Christ’s Church, which is said to have been modeled after St. Peter’s in Colchester England, likely giving Colchester Street, where Sears Chapel is located, its name. The Romanesque style church was designed by Boston architect, Arthur Gilman, who designed the building suitable for the Sears Family crypt which is underneath the structure and the burial site of many of the family. The congregation remains active to this day who maintain the significant structure and its many historic stained glass windows.

Bancroft Memorial Library // 1898

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The Bancroft Memorial Library on Hopedale Street in Hopedale, Massachusetts, was built in 1898 and is one of the finest examples of a Romanesque Revival style library in New England. The library’s benefactor, Joseph Burbier Bancroft (1821-1909), moved to Hopedale and joined the Hopedale Community in 1846, where he became connected with the Hopedale Machine Company founded by the Draper Family. Shortly afterward Mr. Bancroft entered into a partnership with Ebenezer and George Draper, and was put in charge of the cotton machinery department of the Draper Corporation. Joseph married Sylvia W. Thwing, sister of the wives of Ebenezer and George Draper. As he rose through the ranks of the Draper Company, he decided to fund a library as a gift to the company town. Designed by architect, C. Howard Walker of the Boston architectural firm Walker & Kimball, the library is constructed of granite and features arched entry at the facade with carved stone panel above. Before the building was completed, Sylvia died, and the library became a memorial in her memory by Joseph Bancroft.

Harrison Block // 1889

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One of the few historic commercial buildings in Hopedale Village is this Romanesque Revival style example on Hopedale Street which, like so many other buildings in the village, was largely funded by members of the Draper Family. The commercial block was built in 1889 by Gen. William F. Draper and named in honor of President Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States, as a multi-use building, containing a drug store, a retail, a club house on the second floor, a storage and cobbler at the rear of the building in the basement, and a lodge on the third floor for large meetings. Less ornate than many other buildings in town built for the Draper’s, all decorative features on the Harrison Block are confined to the façade. With original storefronts of wood and glass display windows at the ground floor, tripartite windows at the second floor, and large, round-arched windows at the third floor, evoking the Romanesque style of the Town Hall (also funded by the Draper Family) nearby. 

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. 

Wayland Public Library // 1900

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The Wayland Public Library is not only significant architecturally, but also historically as it was founded in 1848, with some claiming that it is the second free public library established in the United States. The first physical space for the Wayland Public Library was established in 1850 using a small room in the Town House. The Town House was outgrown and replaced in the 1870s by a large, Victorian Town Hall (razed in 1957) with designated space in the building for the expanded town library. As Wayland became an affluent Boston suburb in the late 19th century, wealthy resident, Warren Gould Roby (1834-1897), who lived just north of the town hall, donated land and $25,000 to the town for the purpose of constructing a library
that would be as fireproof as possible. Designed by architect, Samuel Mead of the firm, Cabot, Everett & Mead, the handsome building is said to have been inspired by Mead’s travels to Italy where he gained an interest in Roman architecture and Renaissance art. The influence is seen on the exterior with the Romanesque Revival style and on the interior with an ornate frieze around the rotunda. The building was expanded in 1988 by Tappe Associates and remains one of the great early 20th century libraries in New England.


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.

Chester Depot // 1872

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The first public train arrived in Chester, Vermont, on July 18, 1849, and in December, the Rutland & Burlington Railroad opened the first rail line across Vermont linking the Connecticut River valley at Bellows Falls and Lake Champlain at Burlington. A fire destroyed the first station in 1871, and the Vermont Central Railroad built the current station within a year. The State of Vermont purchased the line in 1963, leasing it in part to the Green Mountain Railroad. Exceptional in Vermont, this brick station retains its high-style Italianate design and continues in railroad use. The station can be classified as Italianate/Romanesque in style and has a corbeled cornice, windows capped by brick hood moldings, and a projecting trackside awning. It appears that the station is not in active use, does anyone know more?

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 Arcade // 1890

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 The Second Meeting House of Westborough, Massachusetts, was built on this important site in the center of the village in 1749. It was a plain, wooden building and was used for both church services and town meetings, since church and state were essentially inseparable at the time. When a new church was built in 1837, this building was purchased and converted to commercial use. The first floor of the building was raised, and another floor was added underneath. The steeple was also removed. The building then became known as “The Arcade Building,” a kind of mall with small shops opening onto the porch. By the end of the 19th century, the old wooden building was nearing 150 years old and owners decided to demolish the structure, and replace it with a more permanent and stately block. The New Arcade was built in 1890 and is more Romanesque in style. The handsome brick block has retail spaces on the ground floor with residences above, a great example of mixed-use.

Somerville Journal Building // 1894

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The Somerville Journal was a local paper founded in 1870. The paper was originally published and printed in an office in Boston, but moved to Somerville by the late 1870s. After about 15 years of renting space in a commercial building in Somerville’s Union Square, the paper purchased a lot nearby and began planning for its first purpose-built building for their company. This structure on Walnut Street was built in 1894 to house a new generation of printing equipment and increased production for its growing market, along with the estimated 50 employees at the time. The building was designed by William H. Gerrish (1865-1915), an engineer. Romanesque Revival in style with the arched second-story windows, the building along with its plate glass storefronts, have been an important landmark in the Union Square area for over 130 years. The Somerville Journal vacated the building in the 1950s and the building was used as a photo developing and printing studio. During the 1970s the building was used as a youth recreation center for the city of Somerville. It has been used as artist studios since the 1970s and today, appears to be vacant. Does anyone know what the plans are for this building?