College Lane 51A.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 Please see attached continuation sheet. Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission Date (month /year): March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31D-11 Easthampton NTH.374 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address:
51 College Lane Historic Name: Smith College Faculty Club Uses: Present: Conference Center Original: Faculty Club Date of Construction: 1960 Source: Smith College archives Style/Form:
International Style Architect/Builder: William and Geoffrey Platt, architects, New York Exterior Material: Foundation: concrete Wall/Trim: brick Roof: built-up roofing Outbuildings/Secondary
Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 6.62 acres Setting: This building is set on a narrow ridge of land above Paradise Pond.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [51 College Lane] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.374 ___ 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. At the time architects William and Geoffrey Platt designed this building for Smith College, architects
across the country were adding buildings in the International Style to college campuses with more or less regard for fitting the style into the existing campus context. As an addition
to a Colonial Revival style house, this building shows no obvious regard for its predecessor, and and the strongest design factor linking the two is their white painted exterior. The
Faculty Club is a one-story brick building on the street side but becomes two stories on the Pond side as the land slopes precipitously to the water’s edge and exposes the basement level
of the building. The building has a flat roof, and, typical of the International Style, it has a single band of fenestration across the east façade. The band has asymmetrically placed
windows alternating with metal grilles, the closest thing to ornament on a building where clean geometry rather than ornament is the leading principle of design. Where the east façade
presents a mainly solid brick wall, the pond side of the building is open and transparent with a curved glass wall offering views of the Pond. The north elevation is devoted to loading
dock and service entries. 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 1977 Form B, “ Completed in 1960, the Faculty Club on College Lane overlooks Paradise Pond. Designed by New York architects
William and Geoffrey Platt.” William and Geoffrey Platt, graduates of Harvard and Columbia University, were the sons of Charles A. Platt, architect, and the two followed their father’s
architectural model by working for wealthy clients on residential and school projects from their New York offices. This was not the first commission that the Platt firm had from Smith.
In 1955 they designed Lamont House, a neo-Georgian dormitory for the college on Prospect Street and followed that with Helen Hills Chapel, a Colonial Revival style building on Elm Street,
so the Faculty Club was a departure from their earlier work on the campus. 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.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [51 College Lane] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.374