Misplaced Pages

Springfield Steam Power Company Block
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Springfield Steam Power Company Block
Show map of MassachusettsShow map of the United States
Location	51-59 Taylor St., Springfield, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°6′18″N 72°35′33″W / 42.10500°N 72.59250°W / 42.10500; -72.59250
Area	less than one acre
Built	1881 (1881)
MPS	Downtown Springfield MRA
NRHP reference No.	83000767
Added to NRHP	February 24, 1983

The Springfield Steam Power Company Block is a historic industrial building at 51-59 Taylor Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1881, it is a surviving example of a late 19th-century power distribution component, part of a scheme by the Springfield Steam Power Company to deliver steam power to nearby industrial facilities. The block was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Its ground floor now houses "The City Church", a local community of Jesus followers.

Description and history

The Springfield Steam Power Company Block is located on the south side of Taylor street in downtown Springfield, opposite its junction with Kaynor Street. It is a utilitarian three-story brick building with a flat roof. Its upper-floor bays consist of recessed segmented-arch sections two stories in height, with windows on each level separate by a brick panel. There is some decorative brick corbelling in the eave below the main roof. The ground floor is divided into five bays separated by pilasters, with a retail entrance to their right, and an upper-story building entrance at the far right.

The block was built in 1881 for the Springfield Steam Power Company, which was established by the directors of the Wason Car Manufacturing Company to provide steam power to factory buildings the company offered to build nearby. The business plan was made possible by what was the largest real estate transaction in the city's history to that time, in which entire city blocks changed ownership. This particular building was built by the company for lease to smaller industrial concerns; early tenants included a brass foundry, iron works, and a sewing machine company.

See also

• Wason-Springfield Steam Power Blocks
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Springfield, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampden County, Massachusetts

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. ^ "NRHP nomination for Springfield Steam Power Company Block". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2013-12-13.

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Barnstable Berkshire Bristol Dukes Essex Franklin Hampden Hampshire Middlesex Nantucket Norfolk Plymouth Suffolk Worcester (northern)
Lists by city	Barnstable County Barnstable Harwich Bristol County Fall River New Bedford Taunton Essex County Andover Gloucester Ipswich Lawrence Lynn Methuen Salem Hampden County Springfield Middlesex County Arlington Cambridge Concord Framingham Lexington Lowell Marlborough Medford Newton Reading Sherborn Somerville Stoneham Wakefield Waltham Weston Winchester Norfolk County Brookline Milton Quincy Suffolk County Boston northern southern Worcester County Southbridge Uxbridge Worcester eastern northwestern southwestern
Other lists	Bridges Cape Cod National Seashore National Historic Landmarks Boston
Category National Register of Historic Places portal United States portal

• Commercial blocks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
• Buildings and structures in Springfield, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Massachusetts