{"nrhp_refnum":"72000134","name":"Hampden County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.10028408800008,"lon":-72.58842824599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-02-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story granite courthouse on Elm Street, just off Court Square in Springfield, Massachusetts, designed by H. H. Richardson after a competition won in 1871 and remodeled in 1906 by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge.","why_significant":"It is an early work by Henry Hobson Richardson, regarded as the first great architect to work in a truly American idiom. Its bell tower is integrated into the main mass of the building, marking a change in his style. The 1906 alterations also make it a case study of how his work differed from that of his imitators.","narrative":"Hampden County Courthouse, on Elm Street just off Court Square in Springfield, was designed by H. H. Richardson, who won the commission in a competition held in 1871. It follows an I-shaped plan and is built of light grey local Monson granite in random ashlar. The main facade has a triple-arched entrance porch, a corbelled balcony and a parapet with stepped crenelation, and a central bell tower that resembles the watchtower of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The nomination values the building as an early Richardson work in which the tower is part of the main mass rather than an attached feature, unlike his earlier Worcester and Brattle Square designs. In 1906 Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge replaced the high hipped roof and stone dormers with a flat roof, added an east wing and changed the entrance stairs. Critics quoted in the form still praise the plain, monumental rear facade. The building remains in public use and is in excellent condition.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1871)","architect_builder":"Henry Hobson Richardson (architect); Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge (1906 remodeling)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as publicly owned, occupied, in excellent condition and used for government; the form marks it as altered from the original design.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.041305-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/7951/63795185/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/72000134.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000134/9c2aa85e41-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000134/9c2aa85e41-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Takomabibelot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hampden_County_Courthouse_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Takomabibelot</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hampden_County_Courthouse_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795185","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampden_County_Courthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5645988"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/hampden-county-courthouse-72000134/"}