Dan Antion

Around the Quad

Welcome to Thursday Doors! This is a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world. If you’d like to join us, simply create your own Thursday Doors post each (or any) week and then share a link to your post in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). If you like, you can add our badge to your post.

Before I describe the doors in today’s gallery, I want to ask a favor of the people who participate in Thursday Doors. It’s a simple request, and it’s for your own benefit. Please link your Thursday Doors post to my Thursday Doors post for the given week. Please use whatever method works best for you.

If you are posting from a WordPress.com account, you can simply include the link to my weekly post in your post. This will create a “pingback” in the comments section of my post. If you can do this, you can copy what will be the URL of my upcoming Thursday Doors post as early as Wednesday of that week. It will be in the sidebar under the Thursday Doors badge.

If your blog is self-hosted, pingbacks are not accepted by WordPress. In this case, you need to copy the URL of your Thursday Doors post and enter it in a comment on this page.

Why is beneficial to you? There are two reasons. One, people visiting this page will see links to your post. Two, people visiting the Thursday Doors Recap Page on Sunday will see you post included in that list. Because WordPress tracks things like this, I can say with authority that the Thursday Doors Recap Page generates 80 – 100 additional clicks on Thursday Doors participants’ blog posts.

The Recap Page works! However, it only works if your post is linked to my current Thursday Doors post. Not my About page, not the Thursday Doors category and not last week’s post. The recap list is automatically generated from the comments on my post.

The doors on display in today’s gallery include buildings on the Quad in Springfield. These are mainly museum buildings. There are five museums on the Quad. The information below is from the museum’s website:

The Springfield Science Museum – Founded in 1859 in City Hall, the museum officially opened in 1899 in a classical revival building. The museum was expanded in 1932 and again in 1970 with the Tolman addition that included a public observatory. In 2004, the Welcome Center was added to the Science Museum to serve as the main entrance to the entire campus. The Science Museum houses permanent collections of Natural Science, Anthropology and Physical Science. The Science Museum’s Seymour Planetarium consists of the historic Korkosz Starball, now the oldest operating star-projector in the United States.

The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum – This art museum holds the eclectic collections of George Walter Vincent Smith (1832-1923) and his wife, Belle Townsley Smith (1845-1928) in an Italian palazzo-style building established in 1896. The vast holdings include excellent examples of Japanese lacquer, arms and armor, ceramics and bronzes; one of the largest collections of Chinese cloisonné outside of Asia.

The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts – Established in 1933 and housed in an Art Deco style building, includes a comprehensive collection of American and European paintings, prints, watercolors, and sculpture as well as a large collection of Japanese prints and representative examples of drawing, furniture, metalwork, textiles, glass and ceramics. The Museum houses a comprehensive collection of European Art (French, Dutch, and Italian) and the Currier & Ives (active 1834-1907) collection, one of the largest holdings of lithographs in the nation.

The Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History – Known for its local history research facilities, its comprehensive program of changing exhibitions, its diverse educational offerings, and it’s wide ranging collections illuminating the history of the Connecticut River Valley.

The Indian Motocycle Collection is the largest collection of Indian cycles and memorabilia in the world. The Firearms Collection includes more than 1,600 firearms, with the largest collection of Smith & Wesson guns in the world. The Automobile Collection includes an 1899 Knox, a 1901 Crestmobile, a 1925 Rolls-Royce roadster, and a 1928 Rolls-Royce roadster.

The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum – The newest museum on the Quadrangle, is devoted to Springfield native Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss!

The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum
The Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History
We have a couple of doors in here.
I love the brick work.
These gates open to the museum complex and the Seuss Sculpture garden.
The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts
The Welcome Center is located inside the Science Museum.
View of the Welcome Center from the parking lot. The Seuss Museum is on the right.
A small food stand that was closed when I was there.
This is the back of the Seuss Museum.
This is the main entrance. It is the Science Museum and also the Welcome Center.
I love the doors to the Art Museum.
The museum is in a small building, more like a house than a museum building.

If you are in a hurry and don’t wish to scroll through the comments, click to Jump to the comment form.

111 comments

    • Like many New England cities, Springfield has suffered in recent times. The city has a number of struggles ahead, but I think maintaining this area will play an important role in the recovery. This area is part of what was call the “learning corridor” and, in addition to the museums, there used to be several schools in this area.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  18. What a place! I think I could spend half a day just standing in the middle and gawking. I’m sure it takes days to look through all the museums — they sound fascinating.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • We took our daughter there when there were only four museums (no Seuss Museum yet) and I think we only made it through three of them. If we went into the fine art, it was a rapid “don’t get too close” run through the exhibits.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  22. It is so wonderful that people take so much pride in our past and care about how it is perceived. Such beauty is calming for the soul and uplifting for the heart. You can’t get that out of Amazon!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Ha! No, not out of Amazon, that’s for sure. Having the five small buildings around a sculpture garden makes this a great place to visit, Pam. You can relax and see so many wonderful exhibits.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  24. The art museum entrance is an eye catcher! The whole front of the building is a work of art. Clearly a lot of thought went into these structures. Each has its own individuality, yet they all compliment one another.
    Ginger

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • They have remodeled and expanded that building numerous times, Ginger, but I think they got it right each time. The museums do compliment one another and the quad pulls it all together. The Cathedral I shared last week is also on the quad, so it really is a restful place.

      Like

      Reply

  25. My goodness, the doors of the art museum are breathtaking. The craftsmen are truly artists of the material world. Thank you for the morning inspiration, Dan. 🌞

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m glad yo like this and I’m glad you appreciate the craftsmanship on display in the buildings,m Gwen. I think the buildings are supportive of the overall mission of the museum group.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  31. All of these museums in one convenient location? Yes, please! I think I would happily stay lost in these museums for days. I love the arched doorways and windows on all these buildings…..something you don’t see much of anymore. Shame.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I think I am going to go back in the fall and take in a planetarium show, Jean. We took our daughter for the complete tour about 30 years ago (before the Seuss Museum was built).

      I enjoyed your photos today.

      Like

      Reply

  44. I love the brick building in the first image and the portico in the corner at the back of Dr. Suess’s museum. This would be a grand day spent touring all the museums there.

    What do the words say on the side of the brick building? I’m going to scroll up and see if I can read them. I’m just curious.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I love that you can arrive here and enjoy art, science and whimsy all day. I hope to go back later in the year. The museums will be open full time in a couple of weeks. The words on the building are the museum name – George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Thanks Teagan. The museums are all interesting buildings, and it’s very nice to be in the quad and be surrounded by them. We stayed din the 80s today, and we may only hit 77 tomorrow.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  48. I think I could spend a week looking at all those museums. We (here in San Diego) claim Dr. Seuss too. Ted Geisel and his wife lived here for a long time, up until the end, but we don’t have a Dr. Seuss museum/sculpture garden. Lucky you! That It looks like the architect of the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts could have been an ancestor of the person who designed the Amazon distribution center.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Haha – that is the more bland of the collection, isn’t it. I didn’t know about the San Diego connection, but I knew he didn’t spend his entire life in Springfield – San Diego is a better choice.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  58. Great tour, Dan! This almost looks like the most modern buildings I recall you posting but that’s because I always recall your small town America features. I recall the Dr. Seuss Museum you posted earlier and that was a fun tour. This post of museums still has some great features and historical context as you guide us.

    Here’s my door contribution this week. https://undiscoverdimagesamongstus2.wordpress.com/2021/06/11/thursday-doors-6-10-2021-doors-real-and-sometimes-imagined/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  59. Thanks Gordon. The museums have been there for a long time, but they may be some of the most well maintained buildings I’ve shared and a while.

    Thanks for your contribution – beautiful photos.

    Like

    Reply

  62. Thank you for this post, Dan. I enjoyed the doors and also the description of each museum. I imagine it’s a benefit to having the museums in a cluster, as visitors will go to more than one.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Add your thoughts or join the discussion. One relevant link is OK, more require moderation. Markdown is supported.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.