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Holyoke City Hall
Holyoke City Hall is the historic city hall of Holyoke, Massachusetts. It is located at 536 Dwight Street, on the south east corner of High Street and Dwight Street. Serving both as the city administrative center and a public timepiece for the industrial city's workers, construction began on the Gothic Revival structure in 1871 to a design by architect Charles B. Atwood. Difficulties and delays in construction were compounded by Atwood's failure to deliver updated drawings in a timely manner, and the design work was turned over to Henry F. Kilburn in 1874. The building was completed two years later at a cost of $500,000. It has housed city offices since then.
City Hall is a large stone structure in the Gothic Revival style, built with granite quarried in Monson. Basically rectangular in shape, it has transept-like wings on both long sides, near the ends. It has pointed-arch windows, and is structurally supported by Gothic buttresses. The roof is predominantly dark slate, with bands of red and green slate interspersed. The main tower is 220 feet (67 m) tall, and houses a bell weighing over 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg).
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and included in a boundary expansion of the North High Street Historic District in 1992.
Originally done in blackwood with gold numbers, which many onlookers found difficult to read, today the hall's large clock tower contains four faces of Belgium milk glass. The movement, a Seth Thomas no. 14, eight-day mechanism installed in 1877, contains all bronze components and is one of only three such clock movements sold by the company in New England. The 2.5 ton bell was cast in 1875 by the Jones & Co. Troy Bell Foundry of Troy, New York, and contains a custom-built strike movement as the bell sits on a separate floor from the mechanism and the transmission room where the clock faces and lighting sits. In the 1930s the clock was electrified with General Electric motors to raise its counterweights.
During the building's original construction in 1876, 13 stained glass windows were commissioned by the city and made by Samuel West of Boston. Three of these are located in the stairwells to the auditorium, including two rosettes, and a larger window with two figures- one representing Liberty, and the other a personification of the United States. In the auditorium are the remaining 10 windows, with 4 showing decorative patterns, and 6 showing figures personifying art, agriculture, music, commerce, industry, and water power.
The construction of city hall was a multiyear effort, spanning six years. Its foundations were first laid in 1871 by stonemason John Delaney and his crew, who had also overseen the initial construction of the Holyoke Canal System. By December 17, 1874, the roof was reported as complete, and the building was sealed from the elements for the winter. By 1877 its tower was topped out and the clock's timekeeping mechanism was installed.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the building served as the de facto hub of the Holyoke Street Railway, as all trolley lines converged there, with zone fares based on the distance between that location and the system's various stops. From 1876 until 1902 the building was also home to the Holyoke Public Library until it moved to its current location.
In addition to housing city offices, City Hall's main second-floor ballroom has also been used as a public function space. It has been used for school graduation ceremonies, theatrical productions, dances, receptions for presidential candidates and foreign dignitaries, and from 1912 until 1926 annually hosted the New York Philharmonic as well as at least one such performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
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Holyoke City Hall
Holyoke City Hall is the historic city hall of Holyoke, Massachusetts. It is located at 536 Dwight Street, on the south east corner of High Street and Dwight Street. Serving both as the city administrative center and a public timepiece for the industrial city's workers, construction began on the Gothic Revival structure in 1871 to a design by architect Charles B. Atwood. Difficulties and delays in construction were compounded by Atwood's failure to deliver updated drawings in a timely manner, and the design work was turned over to Henry F. Kilburn in 1874. The building was completed two years later at a cost of $500,000. It has housed city offices since then.
City Hall is a large stone structure in the Gothic Revival style, built with granite quarried in Monson. Basically rectangular in shape, it has transept-like wings on both long sides, near the ends. It has pointed-arch windows, and is structurally supported by Gothic buttresses. The roof is predominantly dark slate, with bands of red and green slate interspersed. The main tower is 220 feet (67 m) tall, and houses a bell weighing over 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg).
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and included in a boundary expansion of the North High Street Historic District in 1992.
Originally done in blackwood with gold numbers, which many onlookers found difficult to read, today the hall's large clock tower contains four faces of Belgium milk glass. The movement, a Seth Thomas no. 14, eight-day mechanism installed in 1877, contains all bronze components and is one of only three such clock movements sold by the company in New England. The 2.5 ton bell was cast in 1875 by the Jones & Co. Troy Bell Foundry of Troy, New York, and contains a custom-built strike movement as the bell sits on a separate floor from the mechanism and the transmission room where the clock faces and lighting sits. In the 1930s the clock was electrified with General Electric motors to raise its counterweights.
During the building's original construction in 1876, 13 stained glass windows were commissioned by the city and made by Samuel West of Boston. Three of these are located in the stairwells to the auditorium, including two rosettes, and a larger window with two figures- one representing Liberty, and the other a personification of the United States. In the auditorium are the remaining 10 windows, with 4 showing decorative patterns, and 6 showing figures personifying art, agriculture, music, commerce, industry, and water power.
The construction of city hall was a multiyear effort, spanning six years. Its foundations were first laid in 1871 by stonemason John Delaney and his crew, who had also overseen the initial construction of the Holyoke Canal System. By December 17, 1874, the roof was reported as complete, and the building was sealed from the elements for the winter. By 1877 its tower was topped out and the clock's timekeeping mechanism was installed.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the building served as the de facto hub of the Holyoke Street Railway, as all trolley lines converged there, with zone fares based on the distance between that location and the system's various stops. From 1876 until 1902 the building was also home to the Holyoke Public Library until it moved to its current location.
In addition to housing city offices, City Hall's main second-floor ballroom has also been used as a public function space. It has been used for school graduation ceremonies, theatrical productions, dances, receptions for presidential candidates and foreign dignitaries, and from 1912 until 1926 annually hosted the New York Philharmonic as well as at least one such performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.