Franklin Street 37-39.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-29 Easthampton NTH.460 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 37-39 Franklin Street Historic Name:
Avon and Henry Matthews House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Two-family residence Date of Construction: 1885-1887 Source: Registry of Deeds Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: vinyl Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Vinyl siding added, ca. 2000 Condition:
good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.248 acres Setting: This house faces west on a quiet, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [37-39 FRANKLIN ST] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.460 _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 one of two, two-family houses built on Franklin Street by the same builders and they are
notable for being quite distinctive rather than duplicates. This is two-and-a-half stories under a side-gable roof whose eaves are ornamented with barge boards resting on paired consoles
on north and south gables. There are two interior chimneys on the roof ridge. The house has two shallow cross-gables on the west, a two-and-a-half story ell on the east and a one-story
addition to the ell at the southeast corner. The west façade is only three bays wide and there is considerable distance between the bays. At second story level there are only two windows,
rather oddly set beneath the cross-gables, suggesting that there were more windows at that story originally, though now it is vinyl-sided. The cross-gables have embellished King’s Post
trusses. The degree of ornamentation is intensified on the full-width porch. The hipped roof porch on posts with capitals has a projecting pediment centered over the entry stairs and
one of the most decorative spindle friezes in the City. Small spindles are turned and beneath them is a row of fretwork with acorn pendants. The porch railing is two-tiered and jigsaw-cut
in an unusual pattern. 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 1980: “In 1885, Avon and Henry Matthews, carpenters and builders, bought 1 ¾ acres of land on the eastern side of Franklin
Street, south of Bancroft Road for $1700. The Matthews brothers sold several lots for residential development, and also built double houses, of which this is one.” 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: Bk. 411-P. 327, 395-411
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [37-39 FRANKLIN ST] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.460 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 Matthews 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 educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton for several hundred years
to the present. Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne style houses, the Colonial Revival
and Tudor Revival styles of the 20th century that were often architect-designed by the region’s most well-known designers. The Matthews House is a fine example of the Queen Anne style
two-family house. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.