An inside look at the former Adams’ house on Worthington Street. Now owned by Larkin Mayo and Gary Yuschalk, the home is one of five that people can tour in the McKnight Historic District during the Springfield Preservation Trust’s annual Historic Homes Tour on June 22.
Reminder Publishing photo by Ryan Feyre
SPRINGFIELD — “The City of Homes” will live up to its name come June 22, when Springfield Preservation Trust’s annual Historic Homes Tour arrives at the exact location where that moniker first emerged from.
The annual tour will allow attendees to stop at five storied residences within the McKnight Historic District from 1-4 p.m. to learn about the history of the domiciles as well as the extensive history of the neighborhood itself, according to SPT President Erica Swallow.
“This is a neighborhood of inventive people,” Swallow said. “People who owned businesses or were leaders in certain industries.”
Commonly known as Springfield’s first actual suburban development and the place where “The City of Homes” designation came from, the McKnight neighborhood features New England’s most extensive collection of wood-frame Victorian homes, many of which were built between 1870 and 1900.
During that time period, Swallow said a lot of big manufacturers came to Springfield to make their home in the neighborhood by turning what was at the time a rural area into a residential destination with different parks and gardens.
“That’s why it’s called a ‘garden neighborhood,’ because you have these little parks and gardens all over the place,” Swallow said.
Presently, the McKnight Historic District has a “treasure trove” containing over 400 notable examples of residential architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries thanks to the ingenuity of architects and real estate moguls John and William McKnight. In 1976, the neighborhood received its local historic district designation and its National Register of Historic Places designation, which Swallow said reflects the extensive history of preservationists residing in the area.
“The McKnight neighborhood has a very strong group of historic preservationists, and many of them were here in the 1970s,” Swallow said.
Attendees will get a taste of that rich history along the five-home self-guided tour on June 22. Docents will occupy each location to provide extensive historical context about the home and showcase some of the unique features that make it stand out.
According to Swallow, some homeowners on the tour may have one or two floors open for people to check out while others may open their entire house for attendees to witness.
Like other years, participants can spend the tour how they want within the three-hour timeframe.
“We’ve had people who have for their entire life wanted to go in a specific house and they’ll just spend their whole time in there,” Swallow said. “And then we’ve had people who are like, ‘I want to see all of them … I want to see everything.’”
One of the houses on the tour sits at 1135 Worthington St. and is owned by Larkin Mayo and Gary Yuschalk. The duo became the fifth owner of the house when they bought it in 2010. According to SPT, Nathan and Emily Adams were the first owners of the “Stick Style” home before a widow named Emily Jacobs became the second owner.
Because it has not changed hands too often over the years, Yuschalk and Mayo said the house is still in great shape and no renovations have been needed.
Built in 1887, the house is dressed in period décor from as early as 1870 to as late as 1910, allowing the duo to exhibit the distinct qualities of each design from those periods.
“It gives people a chance to see the variety of different styles from the period,” Yuschalk said. “For those looking specifically at, ‘what would my house look like if it were built in 1870,’ we can show them a particular room.”
In a tour preview with Reminder Publishing, Yuschalk and Mayo spoke highly of the architectural and socioeconomic diversity found within McKnight, as evidenced by the fact that the neighborhood was built for three classes of people — which the duo says is a rarity across America.
Having lived in San Francisco and Connecticut before moving to Springfield, Yuschalk and Mayo said the McKnight Neighborhood is one of the more unique places they have experienced.
“McKnight really is a gem here on the East Coast in the sense that the houses are very intact,” Yuschalk said. “And [the neighborhood] caters to the wealthy, the middle class and the lower classes. That’s very unique for this time period.”
As for their own home, the duo plans to open the main and second floor for the tour. When attendees arrive, the owners will be there to answer any questions about the home’s historical significance and its architectural vibrancy.
They said one aspect of their house that will pull people in is the colorful palette reflecting the creativity of the time period’s designers.
“People like to ask, ‘wow, was [the house] really this colorful,’ and the answer is yes,” Yuschalk said. “And that’s what we tend to forget in modern design today. Where we prefer subtle shades of white now; the palette they worked with 100 years ago was phenomenal.”
Outside of Adams’ family house, attendees will also get a chance to visit the classic homes on 1127 Worthington St., 1090 Worthington St., 71-73 Ingersoll Grove and 2 Glen Rd. during the tour.
According to Swallow, past Historic Homes tours have simultaneously provided important historical context about Springfield while also encouraging people to buy their own home in the city.
This year, she expects the tour to once again complete that mission.
“For many, the tours have been the first touch point of learning about Springfield’s history or its historical architecture,” Swallow said. “And we find that those who get really interested in it, they tend to get involved with the [SPT] or they move on to thinking, ‘hey, I want to move to Springfield.’”
The tour costs $20 for SPT members and $30 for non-members. Tickets can be purchased at springfieldpreservation.org/housetours/.
