Day Building

Rising five stories on Main Street in downtown Worcester, the Day Building was erected in three phases between 1897 and 1906. Its buff brick and limestone facade shows Romanesque Revival design, with cast iron and plate glass storefronts, round-headed window arches, two-story pilasters and a deep modillion cornice. Two additions face Walnut Street: a three-bay, four-story section that repeats the main facade's materials, and a four-and-a-half-story red brick section with granite trim. The local firm Barker and Nourse designed the principal facade, and George T. Tribe designed the last section. John Day, a Connecticut-born lawyer who moved into real estate development, had the building constructed; it was among the largest in downtown Worcester when he died in 1907. The building is valued for its architectural integrity and its continuous commercial role. It is also one of the few turn-of-the-century commercial buildings left on a section of Main Street that has changed greatly, and it is a better-preserved example of Barker and Nourse's work than others downtown.