{"nrhp_refnum":"78000449","name":"Westfield Municipal Building","other_names":["State Normal School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"59 Court St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Westfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.12076912500004,"lon":-72.75470567999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-03-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 3½-story, L-shaped brick building at 59 Court Street in downtown Westfield, Massachusetts, built in 1889-92 as the State Normal School and now used as the municipal building. It was designed by the Boston firm Hartwell and Richardson and built by the Darling Brothers of Worcester.","why_significant":"The building is significant as the former home of the second oldest public teacher training school in the nation and the oldest co-educational one. It is also architecturally notable as an example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style that followed H. H. Richardson's death, with heavy round arches, solid masonry and a high pitched roof.","narrative":"Built in 1889-92 on Court Street in downtown Westfield, this brick building with brownstone trim and a granite foundation was constructed for the State Normal School. Boston architects Hartwell and Richardson designed it in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, and the Darling Brothers of Worcester built it. Its round-arched entrances, gabled wings, clock face and slate roof reflect the heavy, solid character of H. H. Richardson's work. The school it housed began at Barre in 1839 and moved to Westfield in 1844. It is described as the second oldest public teacher training institution in the country and the oldest co-educational one. Its graduates and faculty included a future cabinet secretary, a chemist who developed food purity standards, and a Japanese legislator. The interior was altered in 1959 when the building became the municipal building, and two brick additions were made for vault and storage space. The city still owns and uses it for government.","period_of_significance":"1889-92","architect_builder":"Hartwell and Richardson (architects); Darling Brothers of Worcester (builders)","architectural_style":"Richardsonian Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the City of Westfield and occupied as the municipal building since the 1959 conversion; condition listed as fair and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.573952-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/83/7952/63795283/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/78000449.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000449/0b74ba8604-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000449/0b74ba8604-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westfield_Municipal_Building,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westfield_Municipal_Building,_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"08000506","name":"Westfield Center Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/westfield-center-commercial-historic-district-08000506/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795283","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfield_Municipal_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7988716"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/westfield-municipal-building-78000449/"}