Tag: Simon Sanborn

Henry Alexander, Jr. House (1811)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Springfield

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The Alexander House in Springfield was originally built at the corner of Elliott and State Streets in 1811 for James Byers. The design of the house has been attributed to Asher Benjamin and it was built by Simon Sanborn, Springfield’s master builder of the first half of the nineteenth century, who designed many of the city’s old mansions. In 1820, Byers sold the house to Colonel Israel E. Trask, who also owned a plantation in Mississippi. The artist, Chester Harding, briefly lived in the house from 1830 to 1832, as did the railroad superintendent General James Barnes, in 1839. After Trask’s death, in 1835, his family occupied the house until 1862, when it was sold to Henry Alexander, Jr. In that year, Alexander became mayor of Springfield and he resided in the house until his death in 1878. In 1874, he moved the house to a new location nearby on State Street. The house was acquired by the SPNEA (Historic New England) in 1939, and moved again in 2004 to Elliott Street to make way for the construction of a new federal courthouse. The house will be sold, with perpetual preservation restrictions to protect its architectural features.

Byers Block (1835)

by Dan//Commercial, Federal, Springfield

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The Byers block, on Elm Street off Court Square in Springfield, is the city’s earliest surviving commercial block. Built by Simon Sanborn for James Byers, it is a three story building, transitional in style between the Federal and Greek Revival. It is typical of early nineteenth century commercial buildings that had shops on the first floor with residential space above. A 1903 article, which originally appeared in the Springfield Republican, celebrated the Byers block as a “famous little building” that “has afforded offices for many prominent men,” including lawyers and politicians, and for “being the home of some of the city’s most successful business enterprises.” The prominent men included Gideon Welles, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, George Ashmun, a lawyer and statesman who gave the speech nominating Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and George Bancroft, the historian and statesman. The building is now part of the Court Square Redevelopment Project.