Driscoll's Block

Last updated
Driscoll's Block
Driscolls Block, Springfield MA.jpg
Driscoll's Block
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Springfield, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°6′14″N72°35′33″W / 42.10389°N 72.59250°W / 42.10389; -72.59250
Arealess than one acre
Built1894 (1894)
Architectural styleRomanesque
MPS Downtown Springfield MRA
NRHP reference No. 83000746 [1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 24, 1983

Driscoll's Block is a historic commercial building at 211-13 Worthington Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1894, it was the first building to be built in the area after a fire destroyed five blocks of Worthington Street the previous year. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. [1]

Contents

Description and history

Driscoll's Block is located in downtown Springfield, on the southeast side of Worthington Street, just southwest of Stearns Square. It is a modest four-story brick building, with a flat roof and decorative corbelled brick cornice. The ground floor houses a single store front, with recessed entrances (one to the retail space and the other to the upstairs) flanking a display window. Windows on the second and third floors are set in segmented-arch openings, in two groups of three with shared sills. Fourth-floor windows are similarly arranged, but are set in round-arch openings. The exterior of the building was, at the time of its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, notable for a series of mid-20th-century advertising stencils that were applied to its eastern facade after the 1940 demolition of the adjacent building. [2] Those advertisements have since faded significantly. In 2022 City Mosaic of Springfield, Massachusetts was approached by State Representative Sean Curran to paint a mural on Driscoll's Block. Instead of painting a new mural the artists decided to bring the previous mural back to life. In late August 2022, the mural was revealed as a stunning four-story piece of art with historical advertisements.


The block was built for J.R. Driscoll, and at first housed a bowling alley. This business ran until 1915, and was followed by a succession of tenants, including briefly a Sears and Roebuck branch. The tenants have principally been manufacturing or warehousing concerns. [2]


See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangs Block</span> United States historic place

The Bangs Block is a historic commercial building at 1119 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1870 for a grocer, it was built as part of a trend of increasing commercialization at the southern end of the city's downtown area. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baystate Corset Block</span> United States historic place

The Baystate Corset Block is a historic commercial block at 395–405 Dwight St. and 99 Taylor Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1874 and twice enlarged, it was from 1888 to 1920 home of the Baystate Corset Company, one of the nation's largest manufacturers of corsets. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worthy Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Worthy Hotel is an historic hotel at 1571 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1895 and advertised as "Springfield's leading commercial and tourist house," the Worthy Hotel was Springfield's finest hotel until the opening of the Hotel Kimball in 1911. Located only two blocks south of Springfield Union Station and featuring 250 rooms, the Worthy Hotel's period of greatest significance was from 1895-1925. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 1983. It is historically significant not only for its commerce but for its Renaissance Revival architecture. Currently, the Worthy Hotel is an apartment building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitcomb Warehouse</span> United States historic place

The Whitcomb Warehouse is a historic warehouse at 32-34 Hampden Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1896, it is one of the most intact late 19th century industrial buildings in Springfield. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wells Block</span> United States historic place

The Wells Block is a historic mixed use commercial and residential block at 250-264 Worthington Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1876, it is a rare period example of a mixed-use retail and residential building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valentine School (Chicopee, Massachusetts)</span> United States historic place

The Valentine School is a historic school at Grape and Elm Streets in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Built in 1898 to a design by George P. B. Alderman, it is a prominent local eхample of Renaissance Revival architecture. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and included as part of the Springfield Street Historic District in 1991. The building has been converted to residential use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlton House Block</span> United States historic place

The Carlton House Block is a historic commercial and retail block at 9-13 Hampden Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1873, and updated in the early 20th century, it is a good example of Italianate architecture, built during the downtown's development as an industrial and commercial center. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonial Block</span> United States historic place

The Colonial Block is a historic mixed-use retail, commercial, and residential block at 1139-55 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1902-05, it is a relatively rare example of a mixed use building from the period built to provide a mix of uses, in particular residential, at a time when most building in the area were built for commercial and retail purposes. It has also anchored the southern part of Springfield's downtown area where it begins transitioning to more residential use. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cutler and Porter Block</span> United States historic place

The Cutler and Porter Block is a historic commercial building at 109 Lyman Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1894 and altered in 1923, it is an architecturally distinctive example of Panel Brick architecture, with important associations to several late 19th and early 20th-century local businesses. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fitzgerald's Stearns Square Block</span> United States historic place

Fitzgerald's Stearns Square Block was a historic commercial block at 300–308 Bridge Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. It was built in 1871 for Patrick Fitzgerald, one of Springfield's leading real estate developers of the time, and is an important early design of Eugene C. Gardner, who later designed a number of prominent Springfield properties. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It was apparently demolished sometime afterward; the site is now a parking lot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuller Block</span> United States historic place

The Fuller Block is a historic commercial building at 1531-1545 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1887, it is a prominent local landmark, and a well-preserved example of a late 19th-century office block. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hibernian Block</span> United States historic place

The Hibernian Block was a historic commercial building at 345-349 Worthington Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1910, it was a distinctive example of Classical Revival architecture, used for many years by a variety of fraternal social organizations. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and it was demolished sometime thereafter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennedy-Worthington Blocks</span> United States historic place

The Kennedy-Worthington Blocks are three historic commercial and industrial buildings at 1585-1623 Main Street and 166-190 Worthington Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in the 1870s and 1880s, with a major restyling to two of them in 1912, the buildings were a major factor in the urban development of the area north of the city's traditional core. They were listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McIntosh Building</span> United States historic place

The McIntosh Building is a historic commercial building at the corner of Chestnut and Worthington Streets in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1918 for a shoe manufacturer, it is a locally unusual example of the Chicago style of architecture. At the time of its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, it still had its original storefronts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McKinney Building</span> United States historic place

The McKinney Building is a historic commercial building located at 1121-27 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is locally significant as a good example of commercial Classical Revival architecture, and was part of generally southeastward trend in the growth of the city's downtown area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Block</span> United States historic place

The Morgan Block is a historic commercial block at 313-333 Bridge Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. When the two story Classical Revival building was built in 1929, it was probably a speculative real estate venture by the Morgan Envelope Company, whose factory abutted the property in the rear. It was designed to house stores on the first floor and offices on the second, functions it continues to perform. It was rehabilitated in the early 1980s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith's Building</span> United States historic place

Smith's Building is a historic commercial building at 201-207 Worthington Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. The five story building was built in 1897, and first occupied by the McIntosh Corporation, a major area shoe manufacturer. McIntosh occupied the premises until 1913, when it moved into a new building at Chestnut and Worthington. The next major tenant was Fred Smith, who moved his recreation center business there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfield Steam Power Company Block</span> United States historic place

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masonic Block (Reading, Massachusetts)</span> United States historic place

The Masonic Block is an historic commercial block in Reading, Massachusetts. This three story brick building is distinctive in the town for its Renaissance Revival styling. It was built in 1894 by the local Reading Masonic Temple Corporation, and housed the local Masonic lodge on the third floor. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colony's Block</span> United States historic place

Colony's Block is a historic commercial building at 4-7 Central Square in the heart of Keene, New Hampshire. The five-story brick building was built in 1870 to a design by Worcester, Massachusetts, architects E. Boyden & Son, and is the city's most prominent example of Second Empire architecture. In addition to being a long-standing commercial center, the building housed the city library from 1870 to 1877. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Driscoll's Block" . Retrieved 2013-12-09.