Bancroft Trust Building

Bancroft Trust Building

Company type	Historic commercial building
Industry	Commercial real estate
Founded	1869 (Dodge Block), 1883 (Sawyer Building), combined 1920
Headquarters	Worcester, Massachusetts , United States
Products	Retail and office space

The Bancroft Trust Building, once known as the Dodge Block and Sawyer Buildings, is a notable historic commercial site situated at 60 Franklin Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. This property integrates the 1883 Sawyer Building with the 1869 Dodge Block, which stands as one of the rare remaining industrial-era constructions in Worcester. Both structures were created by the architectural firm Fuller & Delano and were combined into a single entity—the Bancroft Trust Building—in 1920. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Description and history

Positioned at the southeast intersection of Franklin and Portland Streets, overlooking Worcester’s city common, this four-story masonry edifice preserves distinctive exterior elements from its originally separate buildings. The ground level features continuous storefronts with expansive glass display windows set within metal frames and black paneling.

Dodge Block

Occupying the right portion of the building, the Dodge Block showcases upper stories with windows set in segmented-arch surrounds highlighted by stone corner blocks and keystones, capped by a series of rectangular panels. Its rounded corner entrance dates back to its 1869 origin for Thomas Dodge, a prominent lawyer and inventor who maintained offices on much of the second floor. Initially, the upper floors contained single residential apartments; however, interior modifications have since altered their original configuration. A mansard roof and an additional fifth floor were destroyed in a fire in 1971.

Sawyer Building

The left half of the structure is formed by the Sawyer Building, which displays a more ornate five-bay front. It includes one storefront at street level and a central doorway leading to the upper levels, flanked by stone pilasters and surmounted by a narrow stone portico supported by scrolled brackets. The windows above are arranged in pairs with tall stone lintels and slender sills; on the fourth floor, they are distinguished by brick-segmented arches and decorative corbelling above. Constructed in 1882 for local entrepreneur Stephen Sawyer, this building was designed to accommodate retail spaces on the first floor with residences above.

Combined

By 1920, the area surrounding Worcester Common had largely evolved into a district dominated by office and retail establishments. At that time, these two previously independent buildings were joined internally by filling in the alleyway between them with the current entrance bay. The unified structure was named after its principal tenant from 1922 until 1936, the Bancroft Trust Company.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in northwestern Worcester, Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts