CONTRACTOR SUGGESTIONS 

The Trust is continuing to put together a list of contractors that we could recommend to other people. As the experts in preservation, we often get asked for recommendations of contractors whose work is honest and good. This can range from good handymen to fine finish carpenters, plumbers and electricians. A big area of need is to identify contractors who have the ability and inclination to repair window ropes, re-glaze windows and do basic window repair. Inappropriate window replacement is often done due to a lack of contractors willing to repair. More money is made replacing windows so often that is presented as the only solution by contractors.  If you have had a good experience and would like to share that information with others, please fill out the attached coupon and send it to us at 979 Main St, Spfld. MA 01103.  

Name of Contractor_____________________________

Trade Specialty________________________________ 

Telephone #___________________________________  

Newsletter Contributors

Jim Boone

Bob Holbrook

Linda Langevin

Jesse Steele

Marilyn Sutin, Editor

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Monthly Meetings

Monthly meetings of the Springfield Preservation Trust are held on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Mason Wright Retirement Center, 74 Walnut Street.  All Trust members are welcome.

 Annual Holiday Party 

The Springfield Preservation Trust Holiday Party will be held at the home of Jesse Steele and Anthony Keevan, 8 Bellevue Avenue, on the 6^th of January at 6:00.

The land for the house was purchased from the Swan and Tapley families in 1906, and in 1907, Dr. George Foster, a prominent Springfield doctor, and his wife Ada, built their home. It was the second house to be built on Bellevue Avenue.  The house changed hands in 1923 when purchased by another prominent doctor, Dr. Charles Spaid and his wife Mable.  Dr. Spaid had an office in the house from 1923 until his death in 1962 at age 89.  Upon Mable’s death in 1964, the house and contents were bequeathed to the Springfield Library and Museums Association for the benefit of the Museum of Fine Arts.  The Association sold the house to a development company who planned to tear it down and build a service station in its place. Luckily, the neighborhood was able to stop the development.  In 1974 it was purchased by Michael and Elaine Godek.  The house changed hand three more times before it was purchased by the current owners in July of 2005. 

The entire house will be open and weather permitting, the original untouched carriage house with original horse stalls and carriage elevator will be open for viewing.  Please join us for this festive holiday celebration during the home’s first event of its centennial anniversary.  Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served. 

Tickets are $35 per person and are available by calling (413) 747-0656 or contacting any Board member by December 31st.

The Springfield Preservation Trust has a Permanent Home! 

The Board of Directors of the Mason Wright Retirement Community has generously donated a large, lower level office space to the Springfield Preservation Trust.  The build out is complete and the December 6^th meeting will be held in our new office.  In addition to using the space for meetings, we will be housing a Restoration Resource Library. 

We envision this to be a place where members and citizens can come for answers to their questions about preservation, history, restoration, and contractor information. We are in the process of searching for a grant so we may purchase a computer and stock our library shelves. Donations of books about architecture, preservation, historic Springfield, photographs, magazines, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and how-to books are greatly appreciated.  If you have items to donate please contact Jim Boone at 734-9110 and he will pick them up at your home.  Members are, as always, invited to attend our monthly meetings held on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Mason Wright Retirement Community, 74 Walnut Street. 

Annual Meeting 

Mark your calendars.  This year’s annual meeting will be held in our new office space on March 4th. You will have the opportunity to tour our new offices and listen to Springfield Historian Don D’Amato speak about Primus Mason and the history of the neighborhood.  More details will follow in the upcoming newsletter. 

The Hotel Kimball 

A new hotel for Springfield; it is fire proof, perfectly heated, ventilated, and has a state of the art water filtration system.  No, this is not 2006, but rather 1911 and it is the New Kimball Hotel on Chestnut Street in Springfield MA., a state of the art hotel for its time. 

During its lifetime the hotel has been host to many important political and theatrical persons including Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, John Cabot Lodge, and Baroness Helene Hindenburg. 

The building was built of granite and fine-tooled limestone, steel and concrete floors, and fire proof tiles partitions, affording five hundred guests every possible safety against fire.  The only woodwork used in the building was for doors, windows and baseboards.  In addition to the fireproofing, the management installed a state of the art ventilation and heating system which cooled the rooms and heated them for the comfort of the guests.  The water filtration system filtered and purified every drop of water which entered the building. 

Though the construction of the hotel was far advanced for its time, the hotel still fell on economic hard times and over the years it transitioned from grand hotel, to rental property, and finally, to a fine downtown condominium.  The building still remains a landmark in the city of Springfield and will remain that way for years to come.  

Because of its construction, the function may change but the structure will remain as the grand lady it was meant to be. Preservation allows these buildings to remind us of our past and future and help define our heritage.  There will be more articles on the Kimball in the upcoming newsletter. 

Reuse of old Tech High 

The Springfield Preservation Trust Board of Directors is asking you to contact your state representative or ask family and friends who live in the eastern part of the state to contact their reps to support Tech High as the site of the new Massachusetts Disaster Relief Facility.  When part of the high school was torn down to make way for the new federal building, it was with the promise that the rest of the building would be saved.  This proposed project will fulfill the promise to reuse Tech High. 

Update on the SPT web page 

Please continue to check out our website. Lovers of Springfield’s built environment will especially enjoy the link to ’Houses of Springfield’.  Ralph Slate has put together a remarkable collection of old house photographs from postcards, magazines, newspapers, books, and family photos. Detail into each photo for additional information – whether the text from a postcard written in Dec. 1909 or the detailed description of a ‘modern dwelling’ as described by the Scientific American Building Edition, November 1899. 

New look for SPT Newsletter 

The mission of the Springfield Preservation Trust is to promote awareness and an appreciation of Springfield’s built environment.  In that spirit, each future edition of the SPT newsletter will contain a different photograph from the ‘Houses of Springfield’.

This month’s photograph, located in the upper left corner of the December Newsletter, is an engraving of 76 Spruceland Avenue. Check out the web site for additional information.