Bangs Block

The Bangs Block is a historic commercial building at 1119 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1870 for a grocer, it was built as part of a trend of increasing commercialization at the southern end of the city's downtown area. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.^[1]

Bangs Block
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Bangs Block is the center of these three buildings; the Burbach Block is to the right, the McKinney Building to the left.
Show map of Massachusetts Show map of the United States
Location	1119 Main St., Springfield, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°6′0″N 72°35′9″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1870 (1870)
Architectural style	Italianate
MPS	Downtown Springfield MRA
NRHP reference No.	83000736 [1]
Added to NRHP	February 24, 1983

Description and history

The Bangs Block is located near the southern end of the built-up commercial downtown area of Springfield. It is on the north side of Main Street, between the Burbach Block and McKinney Building on the block demarcated by Crossett Lane and Cross Street. It is a four-story brick building, with Italianate styling. Its windows are set in segmented-arch openings topped by a soldier brick keystoned hoods, with bracketed red sandstone sills. The right side of the facade has brick quoining, and there is a tall cornice with multiple bands of brickwork. The ground floor houses a single commercial storefront, with the building entrance at the left.^[2]

The building was built in 1870 for John Bangs, who was operating a dry goods business in the Gunn and Hubbard Blocks on State Street, and moved it to this building. His son, Adam Bangs, used the space as a meat market, and it has seen a variety of commercial uses since then. The area was, at the time of construction, beginning a transition between a mixed residential-commercial area with smaller scale (two-story) buildings.^[2]

See also

• Burbach Block, 1113-15 Main Street
• McKinney Building, 1121-27 Main Street
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Springfield, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampden County, Massachusetts