Holyoke City Hall - Holyoke, MA
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neoc1
N 42° 12.406 W 072° 36.435
18T E 697524 N 4675505
Holyoke City Hall is located near the industrial canals at 536 Dwight Street in the Flats neighborhood of Holyoke, MA.
Waymark Code: WM131PF
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/27/2020
Views: 0
Holyoke is the first completely planned industrial city. The water from the Connecticut river was diverted through a network of canals to power mills. Nearby housing was built for predominately immigrant mill workers.
As the city grew wealthy because of their paper and textile industries a grand city hall building was planned. The Holyoke City Hall was constructed in two phases. The building was designed by Boston architect Charles B. Atwood using a combination of Gothic Revival-Romanesque Revival styles. Construction began in 1871 and was completed in 1875 under the direction of New York architect Henry F. Kilburn. (
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The building utilizes a distinctive rough cut gray granite. The most striking feature of this building is its great granite tower which houses a bell and a four faced clock that displays Roman numerals. In a time when most workers did not own watches this tower acted as a community timepiece for the workers in the mills.
When additional administrative space was required an annex to the main building was constructed. The addition was completed in 1913 when the city was at the height of its industrial importance. The same architectural firm was employed and the architecture of the annex matched the style of the original building. It featured ecclesiastical stained glass windows designed by Henry F. Kilburn and Samuel West. These windows are in somewhat disrepair and currently there is ongoing discussion concerning their future.
On December 6, 1975 Hokyoke City Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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