The building at 340 Main Street in Worcester was built c. 1894-1897 to designs by the prestigious architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns. Known today as the Commerce Building (named for later tenant Commerce Bank), it was originally built for the State Mutual Life Insurance Company. Founded in 1844-1845 as the nation’s fifth life insurance company, it had previously been located in an 1870 building at 240 Main Street.
Three buildings on North Street in Pittsfield are depicted in the image above. On the left is the Blaisdell, 413-419 North Street, built in 1907 for the head of the Blaisdell-Kavy Co., and designed by Pittsfield architect George Edward Haynes. In the center is the Wood Brothers Building, 421-429 North Street, also designed by Haynes. It was built in 1922-1923 to house the Wood Brothers music store, founded in 1880 and still in business today at another location. The building’s facade is constructed of 40 tons of cast stone from the Art Stone Co. of Millers Falls. The building on the right, 441-445 North Street, is the Farrell Building. Dating to 1913-1915, it is also the work of Haynes.
Located next to the Steiger Building in Holyoke is a three-story building that was once a Woolworth store. Located at 255 (253-257) High Street, it was originally built as a double gabled red brick structure but was altered with a Beaux Arts facade around 1912.
The Worcester Women’s Club was founded in 1880. Josephine Wright Chapman, one of the country’s first woman architects, designed the Women’s Club Building, which stands at 10 Tuckerman Street in Worcester. The builder was C. H. Cutting & Company of Worcester. Built in 1902, the building has three sides, with differing main facades facing Tuckerman and Salisbury Streets. In 1976, the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra took up residence in the building, acquiring ownership of it in 1981. The building became known as Tuckerman Hall (a name that originally referred only to the larger of the structure’s two public halls), named in honor of Elizabeth Tuckerman, the grandmother of Stephen Salisbury III who donated the land for the structure in 1898. Tuckerman Hall underwent restoration in 1999 and 2004-2005. Continue reading “Worcester Woman’s Club – Tuckerman Hall (1902)”
The Mystic Lodge of Masons was established in 1810 in Lanesborough. The Lodge acquired land at 116 South Street in Pittsfield for a Masonic Temple in 1912. The building, designed by Joseph McArthur Vance of Pittsfield, had its cornerstone laid on October 10, 1912. The building was dedicated on May 2, 1914. Members of the Mystic Lodge formed the Crescent Lodge in 1873. A third Lodge, the Pittsfield Lodge, was constituted in 1921. These two merged in 1990 to form the Crescent-Pittsfield Lodge. This Lodge merged with the Pittsfield Lodge to form the New Moon Lodge on December 1, 2015. The Masons have owned and maintained the building for over a century, but in 2015 the Pittsfield Masonic Association put the building up for sale.
Located in Springfield‘s Memorial Square neighborhood, near the former Memorial Congregational Church, now St. George Greek Orthodox Church, is the Memorial Square Building at 2291-2295 Main Street. Built in 1911 by the E. J. Pinney Company, the building (now called Memorial Square Apartments) has retail space on the first floor with five stories of apartments.
The Central Exchange Building at 301-315 Main Street in Worcester stands on the site of the Old Central Exchange Building. This predecessor was built in 1830, burned down in 1843 and was rebuilt the following year. The current Central Exchange Building was constructed in 1895-1896. Designed by architect W.G. Preston, its first owner was Elizabeth Davis Bliss Dewey, wife of Francis H. Dewey II, a trustee of the Mechanics’ National Bank and the Worcester Mechanics’ Savings Bank, which would be early tenants of the building. In 1902, an additional section of the building, 301-303 Main Street, was added, designed by Fuller & Delano. Continue reading “Central Exchange Building (1896)”