Downtown, Springfield, Massachusetts

Downtown Springfield has some impressive spaces, especially the buildings surrounding Court Square, laid out in 1812. New York firm Pell & Corbett won a competition to design the Greco -Roman City Hall and Symphony Hall, including the 300-ft high Italianate Campanile. The so-called Municipal Group was dedicated in 1913 by President William Howard Taft. The Byers Block (1835) and Old Court Square Building (1892) flank the east park perimeter, now largely abandoned but sporting a whimsical tower. The Northwestern Mutual Life Building (1907), designed by Peabody & Stearns, is a Beaux Arts style building with impressive details surrounding a 3-story arch.

Up on the hill at Chestnut St. is the Van Allen Building (1902), a fanciful apartment building with a Dutch flavor. Farther up the street is the South Congregational Church (1873), called one of the finest examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture in America. It was designed by New York architect William Potter, who designed much of Princeton University.