{"nrhp_refnum":"74002052","name":"City Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Market Sq.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicopee","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.14881982600008,"lon":-72.61405756799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Chicopee City Hall, a brick Romanesque Revival municipal building on Market Square in Chicopee, Hampden County, Massachusetts, built in 1871 as the town hall to a design by Charles Edward Parker of Boston.","why_significant":"The building is a long-standing landmark in Chicopee Center and one of the few surviving reminders of the city's heritage. Its design was intentionally patterned after the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, which makes it unusual among Massachusetts town halls of its period. It also hosted notable speakers and served as the setting for mayoral inaugurations.","narrative":"Chicopee City Hall dominates Market Square, where four streets converge to cross the Chicopee River and the Dwight Mills Canal. Built in 1871 as the town hall, it is a brick Romanesque Revival building on a granite foundation, designed by Charles Edward Parker of Boston. Its clock tower at the southwest corner was consciously modeled on the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and it carries a gold eagle weathervane cast by the Ames Manufacturing Co. The facade features a tri-arched portico with Corinthian-type columns, a rose window, and stained glass windows lighting a second-floor hall that seats 900 people. Town leaders, including James T. Ames on the building committee, oversaw its construction. It served as the town hall until Chicopee became a city in 1890, and its portico was long used for mayoral inaugurations. Speakers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Mann, Charles Dickens and Frederick Douglass appeared there. A 1929 annex is linked to the rear by an enclosed brick bridge.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1871)","architect_builder":"Charles Edward Parker of Boston (architect); bricks furnished by Charles McClallan; ironwork cast by Ames Manufacturing Co.","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival, with influences of Romanesque church building and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site, publicly owned and occupied, in government use. A City Hall Annex was added in 1929.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.377381-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/9/7953/63795309/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74002052.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002052/1684003173-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002052/1684003173-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Tessier Architects","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicopee_City_Hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tessier Architects</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicopee_City_Hall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795309","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Hall_(Chicopee,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5123187"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/city-hall-74002052/"}