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Audubon Road 123.pdf Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. FORM B − BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Topographic or Assessor's Map Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: PVPC Date (month /year): March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 05-016-001 Easthampton NTH.1 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 123 Audubon Road Historic Name: James Smith House Uses: Present: single-family residence Original: single-family residence Date of Construction: ca. 1787-1790 Source: Deed research Style/Form: Federal Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: stone Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): windows replaced 2009. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.595 acres (Northampton Assessors) Setting: This is a south-facing house set on a rise rise in the landscape and surrounded by woodland and open fields along with infill houses. INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [123 AUDUBON ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.1 _x__ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. The James Smith House is a two-and-a-half story, Federal period house under a side-gable roof with a large center chimney. It has a north extension for a saltbox profile and rests on low stone foundations; its roof has clipped eaves in the gable ends. All these features could describe a mid-18th century, Georgian style house, which suggests that a conservative approach was followed in constructing it in the 1790s. That is not unusual as the Georgian center chimney house was favored in many farming communities for its heat-saving qualities over the two interior chimneys and larger windows of an urban Federal house. The house is three bays wide and one deep and its second story windows are small and set close to the eaves. Replacement vinyl sash has been installed. The tall and narrow, trabeated door surround is Federal in proportions and its thin cornice is an attenuated form that would not have appeared in the Georgian style when robust forms were preferred. There is a one-story wing on the west, added in the 20th century. Since the form of 1976 was completed, an end wall chimney on the west that was a later addition has been removed. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. From the 1976 Form B: “According to Soloman Clark in Antiquities, Historical and Graduates of Northampton, 1882, this is the first homestead established in the Rail Hill area. During the last decade of the 18th century three families established themselves along the road to Williamsburg west of the Mill River. They were James Smith (1787-1790), Calvin Clark (1792), and Luke Day (1794). The settlement was called Rail Hill, and in later years after the harnessing of the Mill River near its junction with Roberts Meadow Brook and the growth of an industrial village there, became part of Leeds. A title search has shown that James Smith obtained 55 acres of land in the “Long Division” in 1793 for 50 pounds. This land was bounded easterly on “Rail Hill River” (now Mill River) and southerly and westerly on the “town highway” from Northampton to Williamsburg. Mr. Smith had earlier moved his family from Boston to Williamsburg, but soon decided to settle on “Rail Hill”. He may have established himself here as early as 1787 or 1790 and purchased the land later, but as no house is mentioned in the deed, it is assumed that the house dates from after his land purchase in 1793. In any event this is one of the three late 18th century houses built on Audubon Road, all of which are still standing. (in 1976). The property remained in the Smith family until 1860, but half of the land had already been sold off. This process continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. “ BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire Massachusetts, New York, 1873. Hales, John G. Plan of the Town or Northampton in the County of Hampshire, 1831. Miller, D. L. Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895. Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884. Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860. Registry of Deeds. Book 441, page 194; Book 238, page 79; Book 189, page 64; book 47, page 168; Book 6, page 480. Clark, Solomon. Antiquities, Historical and Graduates of Northampton, 1882, pp. 162-165. INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [123 AUDUBON ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.1 National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form Check all that apply: Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district Criteria: A B C D Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G Statement of Significance by _____Bonnie Parsons___________________ The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here. The James Smith House is eligible for the National Register as one of the several remaining homes of late 18th century settlers to the northwest section of Northampton, and the homestead of the Smith family who farmed the area for generations. Architecturally, the house is significant as an example of what western Massachusetts settlers were constructing in the late 18th century in response to the weather and terrain, a building conservative in form. Stylistically, it is equally conservative reflecting the experience of its builders who chose known architectural proportions and decorative features to carry on a building tradition that suited the families for whom they built. With the exception of the vinyl windows currently on the second floor, this building has integrity of materials, workmanship, setting, and feeling.