{"nrhp_refnum":"89000039","name":"Belle and Franklin Streets Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"77--103 Belle St. and 240--298 Franklin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.11269450000006,"lon":-72.59158475663126,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-03-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residential historic district at 77-103 Belle Street and 240-298 Franklin Street in Springfield, Massachusetts, made up of apartment blocks built mainly between 1914 and 1916 by developer William Lay, plus one 1862 house.","why_significant":"The district represents the burst of apartment-house construction in Springfield in the 1910s. Its Classical Revival blocks are similar in size, scale and materials. It is rare for mixing wood-frame and brick buildings and is one of the larger groupings of apartment blocks built in the city. The 1862 house shows the neighborhood's shift from stylish single-family estates to dense flats.","narrative":"This 2.1-acre district in Springfield's North End contains seventeen contributing buildings and one noncontributing 1930 garage. Most were built between 1914 and 1916 by William Lay, a realtor and contractor who named his apartment houses after U.S. presidents. Eight three-story frame buildings with stucco and full-height porches line Franklin Street. Six four-story brick blocks stand on Belle Street, and a brick block with twelve apartments and six storefronts sits at Franklin and Cass Streets. Louis G. H. Kinsman was architect for the Belle Street blocks and one Franklin Street block, and William Fredette was builder of most of the others. A revised 1914 building ordinance banned three-story frame buildings, so Lay switched to brick in 1915. The district also includes an 1862 Italianate house built for Dr. Samuel D. Brooks, later stuccoed and given a two-story porch to match the development. The group is valued as a distinctive example of early twentieth-century apartment development in Springfield.","period_of_significance":"1862; 1913-1916","architect_builder":"Kinsman, Louis G. H.; Fredette, William","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Six buildings (The Buchanan, The Fillmore, The Grant, The Johnson, The Lincoln and The Pierce) were being rehabilitated at the time of nomination and were to remain in residential use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.352807-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/7952/63795237/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000039.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000039/78e579ad86-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000039/78e579ad86-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SpringfieldMA_BelleStreet.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SpringfieldMA_BelleStreet.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795237","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_and_Franklin_Streets_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4883722"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/belle-and-franklin-streets-historic-district-89000039/"}