{"nrhp_refnum":"83000770","name":"Stearns Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"289-309 Bridge St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.10411421600003,"lon":-72.59070172999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A six-story steel and concrete commercial and office building at 289-309 Bridge Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, built in 1912 to designs by Samuel M. Green & Co.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an early example of Gothic Revival motifs applied to a steel and concrete office building and as Springfield's only early twentieth-century office tower with Gothic Revival detail. It also reflects the rapid expansion of downtown Springfield and the arrival of taller office buildings. It retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship.","narrative":"Rising six stories on Bridge Street in downtown Springfield, the Stearns Building was constructed in 1912 as a steel and stone structure with the unusual feature of concrete floors. Seven stores occupied the ground floor, with offices above. Its designers, Samuel M. Green & Co., engineers and architects, laid out the sixth floor for their own offices. The firm was described in 1913 as the largest of its kind in New England outside Boston. The lower stories are restrained, with decoration limited to pilaster capitals and small columnettes between paired second-story windows. Gothic detailing emerges fully at the cornice, where squat lancet-arched reliefs, tracery corner parapets and small turrets mark the bays. It is Springfield's only early twentieth-century office tower with Gothic Revival detail and the downtown's best example of Neo-Gothic design. Alterations have been limited chiefly to the storefronts, and the building continues to house retail and office uses.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Samuel M. Green & Co. (Samuel M. Green Co.), engineers and architects","architectural_style":"20th century Commercial / Gothic Revival detail (Neo-Gothic)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is retail and office; alterations are minimal, mainly mid-20th-century storefronts.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.59549-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/7902/63790295/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000770.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000770/f92816b964-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000770/f92816b964-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stearns_Building,_August_2012,_Springfield_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stearns_Building,_August_2012,_Springfield_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790295","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearns_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7605521"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/stearns-building-83000770/"}