Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, United States, features relatively few skyscrapers compared its peer cities, due to a 1908

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

state law limiting the city's building height to 125', which remained in effect until 1970. In 1907-08, the construction of 1200 Main Street caused such an outcry in both Springfield and Boston that the

Massachusetts State Legislature The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

passed a law limiting commercial building height in Springfield to 125' – the height of the steeple of Springfield's Old First Church (the fourth incarnation of which had been constructed in 1819). As a consequence, Springfield did not develop a modern skyline in the pre-World War II styles of

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

neo-classicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, ...

; however, many 'human-scale' versions of both styles exist in Springfield. Springfield's height limit was broached purposely in 1970, after the U.S. government had closed the

Springfield Armory The Springfield Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until ...

and many residents began to complain that Springfield looked too Victorian, architecturally. The Baystate West tower (now known as Tower Square, bearing

MassMutual The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, also known as MassMutual, is a Springfield, Massachusetts-based life insurance company. MassMutual provides financial products such as life insurance, disability income insurance, long term ...

's name), standing 371', was designed that year in the

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

International style by renowned architect

Pietro Belluschi Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based up ...

. Several major downtown projects followed in the 1970s and 1980s, creating an impressive modern skyline accented by the Campanile tower of 1913 (the one building which was allowed to breach the height law imposed on Springfield by Massachusetts).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Tallest Buildings In Springfield, Massachusetts *Springfield

Tallest buildings, Springfield Tallest buildings, Springfield

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

See also

References