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Elm Street Helen Hills.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 31B-193 Easthampton NTH.667 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center Address: Elm Street Historic Name: Helen Hills Chapel Uses: Present: Smith College Chapel Original: Smith College Chapel Date of Construction: 1955 Source: Smith College archives Style/Form: Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: William and Geoffrey Platt, architects of NY Exterior Material: Foundation: concrete Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt and slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 1.4 acres Setting: Chapel is on a raised lot so that it towers over its residential and institutional neighbors. INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [123 ELM STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.667 ___ 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. Helen Hills Chapel is a Colonial Revival version of a New England meetinghouse with a projected porch upheld by four colossal Ionic columns. Three arched entries with double leaf paneled doors -traditionally used in Federal style churches to represent the Trinity – beneath three fanlights open into the nave. Their surrounds are trabeated with narrow pilasters supporting the arches with centered keystones. At the second floor level on the south façade are three square windows with 20/20 sash, footed sills and architrave surrounds with keystones. The south façade is flushboard as is the pediment of the porch. A dummy fanlight is centered in the tympanum of the porch pediment. Quoins appear at each corner of the church and its elevations are clapboard-sided. The chapel has a three stage steeple with a tall base whose four sides each has a single oculus window, followed by the second stage, an octagonal belfry on a balustraded base. The belfry openings are louvred and the angles are marked by engaged Ionic columns. An octagonal spire on a base that alternates floral swags in relief with incised panels rises to an urn finial and weathervane. The nave of the church is six bays long and there is a transverse gable at the northwest corner for a secondary entry. 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 1977: “Dedicated in 1955, the Smith College Chapel was given to the College by Helen Hills Hills, class of ’08.“ 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.