Architectural Sketches and Designs

I picked up a new source of photos of Springfield this past weekend, entitled "Architectural Sketches and Designs", by F.S. Newman. Unfortunately, it was not a complete copy of the publication, I only got about 15 pages from it, but what I got was pretty neat.

I found very little about this publication online, except on Google Books, where, in a book titled "Report of the Librarian of the [Massachusetts] State Library for the Year Ending September 30, 1904", the book is listed as being published in 1895. F.S. Newman is most famous in Springfield for designing the Court Square Hotel; I assume due to their inclusion that he designed each building featured in this publication.

The photos in the book have the same limitation as others in that they are halftone, meaning that they are comprised of many tiny dots, like in a newspaper. But luckily, they were large in size, so the detail is pretty good.

Here are links to the photos that I was able to find; hopefully someday I'll find more. If you click on the photo, it will appear larger, and clicking on the caption will bring you to a detailed page on the building.

Court Square TheaterCourt Square Theater J.S. Sanderson Block, Dwight StreetJ.S. Sanderson Block, Dwight Street Fuller's BlockFuller's Block
1046 Worthington Street1046 Worthington Street 23-25 George Street23-25 George Street Alexander Grant & Son Residence, West SpringfieldAlexander Grant & Son Residence, West Springfield
Church of the Unity ParsonageChurch of the Unity Parsonage Pynchon National BankPynchon National Bank N.D. Bill Block, Taylor StreetN.D. Bill Block, Taylor Street

1046 Worthington Street

It is interesting that the porch railing on the photo for 1046 Worthington Street seems to be higher than what we typically consider "historic height". It almost looks like it would meet today's code! Maybe it is just my eyes playing tricks on me, but does anyone know if this was at all common, or why it would have been done?

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