Dryads Green 23.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: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Date (month /year):
March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31A-272 Easthampton NTH.576 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 23 Dryads Green Historic Name: G.
W. Cable House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 18th century, 1891 renovation Source: Historical Society, Hampshire Gazette
Style/Form: Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Putnam & Bayley, architects, Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary
Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates): Expanded in 1891 Condition: good Moved: Moved: no | | yes | x | Date 1891 Acreage: 0.77 acre Setting: This house occupies a large,
tree-shaded lot on a quiet, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [23 DRYADS GREEN] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.576 _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 two-and-a-half story, Colonial Revival style house under a gambrel roof. What remains
from its 18th century origins could be determined by structural analysis, but from the exterior is not evident. The north façade follows a Colonial Revival form of a side-gable house
with a centered pavilion. The north façade is three bays wide, but proportions and scale of the house are are exceptionally large following the practices of the Colonial Revival. The
pavilion has a front-gabled, gambrel roof whose eaves make full returns to create a pediment as do the eaves of the main roof. First story windows of the façade consist of a triple-composition
window on the east, and a single 6/6 sash window on the west. The entry in the pavilion is trabeated with pilasters supporting an entablature and framing sidelights that flank a center
door. Above the entry is a triple-composition window and in the gable field is a louvered fanlight. Second story windows are both 6/6. There is a rounded bay window of two-stories on
the west elevation that has rounded window sash of 6/6. On the east is a single-story, open porch that rests on Doric columns. This is the largest house in its neighborhood and among
the highest style versions of the Colonial Revival. 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 Form B of 1976: “Author and lecturer G. W. Cable came to Northampton in 1884. His first home was
the brick Averill house, corner of Paradise Road and Dryads Green, convenient to Smith College, where Cable intended to educate his five daughters cheaply. In 1891, Judge Hammond, clearing
property on Elm Street for his residence, sold Cable the old D.W. Clark place. Hammond and J.A. Sullivan were clearing land for Harrison Avenue and the Clark homestead was moved to the
end of that street. Cable, who owned much of the surrounding land, opened a street to which he gave the name ‘Dryads’ Green,’ after a New Orleans street where he resided. Cable sold
lots on the Green and had the local firm of Putnam and Bayley design houses on the lots. Cable (1844-1924) was a native of the South who left the region following the Civil War. He was
well established in the literary world by the time of his arrival in Northampton: his first story appeared in Scribner’s Monthly in 1873 and his two major volumes, Old Creole Days (1879)
and The Grandissimes (1884) were written in the following decade. After 1885, the romancer and local colorist toured extensively, at times with Mark Twain. His strong inclination toward
Bible study and social reform perhaps resulted in his founding of the Home Culture Club (People’s Institute) to provide residents with an opportunity for self improvement.” 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] [23 DRYADS GREEN] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.576 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. This property would contribute to a potential historic district that would encompass the residential/institutional side
streets laid out from Elm Street in Northampton Center between Main Street on the east and the west boundary of Childs Park on the west. This potential historic district is significant
according to criteria A and C and would have local significance. These residential streets are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of the development of Northampton
from the mid-19th century as a relatively affluent community that supported several private schools for young women, which prepared them after 1875 for attendance at Smith College, and
the Clarke School where deaf students were given an education that thoroughly prepared them for the hearing world. The residences in this area made a shift from gentlemen’s estates to
accommodation of the growing middle class in Northampton during the 19th century with businessmen, scholars, teachers, doctors, and retired farmers. This house is individually significant
as the home of George Cable, Abolitionist and literary figure. According to criterion C this district would be significant for the range of historical styles that it includes. Gothic
Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles are all well-represented within a landscape of individual large lots, and streetscapes that were laid
out and developed at one time.