Second Saturday Walking Tour

On Saturday, I took a walk (without the small dog!) around the downtown area with a group of about 15 others as part of the Second Saturday Walking Tour, which is sponsored by the Springfield Museums, the Armoury-Quadrangle Civic Association and hosted by the Springfield Preservation Trust. The tour brought our group to two of the remaining buildings in Springfield that were designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, what is currently the Juvenile Court House on State Street and Iglesia Bautista Hispana on Salem Street.

We started out at the G.W.V. Smith Museum to view a stained glass window from Unity Church, which once stood on State Street. It is now a parking lot.



From there, we trekked down toward State Street, stopping briefly in front of the statue of Deacon Samuel Chapin, one of the founders of Springfield. A descendent of his was linked to the family of John Ruskin through marriage, and through a descendent of Ruskin's, H.H. Richardson got some of his first jobs in Springfield.



We wandered on down State Street to what is now the Juvenile Court Building, which Richardson designed in his unique Richardsonian Romanesque style. What is currently used as the front door of the building is actually its back door.





What should be the front of the building sits on Elm Street.







After that, we walked a bit up Main Street to a point where we could see the railroad bridge. H.H. Richardson designed a train station for Springfield that only stood for about two dozen years. The train station had to be moved when the railroad tracks were lifted over Main Street.

We meandered up Mattoon Street to where it meets Salem Street to view La Iglesia Bautista Hispana, a church that the architect designed. He is most well-known for designing Trinity Church in Boston. The pathway between Mattoon and Salem was strewn with apple blossoms.



The church itself is built from local East Longmeadow brownstone, which Richardson favored in many of his Western Massachusetts projects.





Inside the church, we got the chance to view the original stained glass windows, created by Tiffany's.





After the tour ended, we headed back to the Springfield Museums and I decided to check out the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden, which was pretty neat.



The Lorax (below) greets you as you walk in:







Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel and the Cat in the Hat face one of the author's most beloved stories, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"



When I left the garden, I figured that as long as I was downtown I'd get some pictures I'd been meaning to take. This building on Worthington Street is definitely my favorite:



And I just like the way the bricks show the history of this building on Taylor Street:



It was a good day of walking.