Hampden County Courthouse

{{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Hampden County Courthouse | nrhp_type = | nrhp_type2 = cp | nocat = yes | partof = Court Square Historic District | partof_refnum = 74000370 | designated_nrhp_type2 = May 2, 1974 | image = Hampden County Courthouse MA.jpg | caption = | location = Springfield, Massachusetts | coordinates = {{coord|42|6|1|N|72|35|20|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Massachusetts#USA | area = | built = 1871 | architect = Henry Hobson Richardson; Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge | architecture = | added = February 1, 1972 | refnum = 72000134<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref> }}

'''Hampden County Courthouse''' is a historic courthouse on Elm Street in Springfield, Massachusetts designed by Henry Hobson Richardson. This was the county's second courthouse. The first courthouse was a small meetinghouse structure built in 1740, and the second and was constructed in 1822, but by the 1860s, popular pressure was developing for a new proper courthouse. A grand jury indicted the county commissioners in 1869 for official misconduct since the courthouse did not have fireproof storage for the registry of deeds and the safekeeping of public records. This forced the county to build a new courthouse.<ref name="Ochsner">{{cite book|last=Ochsner|first=Jeffrey Karl|title=H.H. Richardson, Complete Architectural Works|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBDXfLHsnc4C&dq=hampden+county+courthouse&pg=PA35 |publisher=MIT Press|year=1982|isbn=978-0-262-65015-1}}</ref>

Construction began in late 1871, and the building was dedicated on April 28, 1874. The original building cost $214,068. The site, within the middle of a city block and measuring 160 by 90 feet, cost $75,716. The building is shaped roughly like the capital letter I, with the main facade emphasizing vertical lines, tall windows, and two tall dormers on either side of the bell tower. The facades were built of light gray Monson granite in rough-faced random ashlar masonry, with smooth-faced trim. The overall design reflects Richardson's evolution as a designer, showing development from the Brattle Square Church.<ref name="Ochsner"/> In his 1972 treatise on Springfield history, ''Town Into City'', Dr. Michael Frisch, professor of American Studies at University at Albany, described the structure as "the single most impressive building of the period [1840 to 1880], well symboliz[ing] Springfield's new importance in the life and economy of its region".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/townintocityspri0000fris|url-access=registration|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Mass.|year=1972|title=Town into city: Springfield, Massachusetts, and the meaning of community, 1840-1880|last=Frisch|first=Michael H.|page=[https://archive.org/details/townintocityspri0000fris/page/n168 149]|isbn=9780674898202 }}</ref> thumb|The courthouse as it appeared in 1908, before its renovation and removal of the dormers The county's growth eventually pushed the probate court and registry of deeds into another building in 1907, and the county built a large addition to the building between 1908 and 1912. This was designed by Richardson's successor firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. The sloping roof and high dormers were eliminated in the remodeling, making it difficult to visualize some parts of Richardson's original design.<ref name="Ochsner"/>

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Today, it houses the juvenile and Western Division of the Massachusetts Housing Court. The Courthouse is part of the Court Square Historic District.<ref name="Ochsner"/>

==Gallery== <gallery class="center" widths="175px" heights="175px"> File:First courthouse of Hampshire County, Massachusetts built 1740 in Springfield.jpg|The first courthouse built in Springfield in 1740, when it was the county seat of Hampshire County File:Second courthouse of Hampden County, built 1821.jpg|The second courthouse, built in 1821-1822, and first of Hampden County, which had been established in 1812 File:Hampden County Courthouse by HH Richardson, built 1875.jpg|The H.H. Richardson structure as it appeared at its dedication, 1874 </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Category:Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Massachusetts Category:Henry Hobson Richardson buildings Category:Buildings and structures in Springfield, Massachusetts Category:Government buildings completed in 1874 Category:County courthouses in Massachusetts Category:National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Massachusetts Category:Historic district contributing properties in Hampden County, Massachusetts Category:Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Massachusetts