Bangs Block
Why it's listed
Rising four stories on Main Street in downtown Springfield, this narrow brick commercial building was put up around 1870 on land the Bangs family had owned for at least twelve years. It housed the Bangs Market, a small grocery run first by John Bangs as a flour and grain shop and later by his son Adam as a meat market until 1903. Later tenants included a watchmaker's shop and other businesses. The four-bay facade is lined with segmental arched windows under corbelled brick hoods, topped by a wide brick frieze and a decorative corbelled cornice. It was listed as a good example of the smaller late nineteenth-century commercial blocks once common along the southern part of Main Street. Together with its neighbors, it records the shift from mixed residential and commercial wooden buildings to a cohesive masonry streetscape of mercantile trade. It meets criteria A and C.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the block is a well-preserved example of late Italianate design and a well-documented representative of downtown Springfield's small-scale, later nineteenth-century commercial enterprises. It retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship. It meets criteria A and C.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 83000736, listed February 24, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 1119 Main St., Springfield |
|---|---|
| County | Hampden County |
| Listed | February 24, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83000736 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Present use is commercial/office; adaptive reuse and exterior renovation were proposed for 1981-1982. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 42.10013, -72.58541 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 83000736.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q4855611
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.