Bancroft Road 102.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 24D-308 Easthampton NTH.356 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 102 Bancroft Road Historic Name: Mary Billings House Uses: Present:
single-family residence Original: single-family residence Date of Construction: 1922-1930 Source: Directories Style/Form: Georgian Revival Architect/Builder: Karl Scott Putnam, architect,
Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: stone Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x |
yes | | Date Acreage: 0.518 acres Setting: This house occupies a corner lot that slopes down toward the north and west. It is heavily shaded by mature trees and a low hedge borders the
lot at the street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [102 BANCROFT ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.356 _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. This is a fine example of the Georgian Revival style and represents the close study by its architect
of local Georgian architecture in form and detail. The house is two-and-a-half stories, has a side-gable roof and, indicative of the authenticity sought by architect Putnam, it sits
on low stone foundations rather than either the brick or concrete that became popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. The house is five bays wide and two bays deep and has two interior
chimneys: one on the ridge and one on the rear slope of the roof. The gable ends of the house have Georgian style jetties and windows have on the first floor Georgian style crown moldings.
On the second floor windows are placed close to the cornice. On the north end of the house is a two-story wing two bays wide followed by an open arcaded porch, one bay wide and two bays
deep. The arches of the porch have molded architrave surrounds with keystones. There is also an arcaded shed roof porch at the northwest corner of the house. The main entry to the house
is through an open gabled portico with a decorative dentil row at its raking cornice and at the entablature of the door surround. The portico rests on slender Doric columns below impost
blocks. The only departure from Georgian models that is evident is the 20th century scale of the house, which is more generous in breadth than its Georgian models. 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 Form B of 1980: “This house was built during the mid-1920s for Mary Billings from designs of Karl Scott Putnam. Mr. Putnam, a Smith College professor of architectural history,
was Northampton’s most prominent architect of the first half of the 20th century and specialized in Colonial architecture. His designs of the 1920s and 1930s bear interesting contrast
to the freer “Colonial Revival” of the turn of the century as popularized locally by Mr. Putnam’s father, Roswell F. Putnam. “ BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Sanborn Insurance Company,
Map of Northampton, 1915. Northampton Directory 1922 and 1930. Smith College Archives: Karl S. Putnam files.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [102 BANCROFT ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.356 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 Mary Billings House would contribute to a potential historic district that extends north of Northampton’s primary corridor,
Elm Street, encircling and encompassing the primary feature of that landscape, Round Hill. The potential historic district is significant for its 19th century development from a few
gentlemen’s farms to a neighborhood dense with the homes of its most prominent residents and and educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton for several hundred
years to the present. Architecturally it is significant for the full range of high style late 19th and early 20th century architectural styles from late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and
Queen Anne style houses to the early 20th century Colonial Revival, Prairie and Tudor Revival that were often architect-designed by the region’s most well-known designers. The Billings
House is exemplary as the work of local architect Karl Scott Putnam. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.