Graves Avenue 31.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 32A-86 Easthampton NTH.2043 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 31 Graves Avenue Historic Name: Leslie
Belding House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1892-1895 Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes
| | Date Acreage: 0.081 acres Setting: This is a north-facing house on a dead end, residential street
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [31 GRAVES AVE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.2043 ___ 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. Unlike its neighbor at 29 Graves Avenue, this house was constructed according to an uncommon design,
although it is duplicated at 23 Highland Avenue nearby. It is two-and-a-half stories under a side-gable roof with a prominent cross-gable on the front façade. So far, that is not an
unusual elevation, however, the house also has a shallow wing on the west whose gable roof is attached attached off-center to the main block of the house. It is rectangular at the second
story and angled at the first story and between stories are arched braces. Windows in the angled bay are Queen Anne with multiple pane borders. In the angle of the two sections of the
house on the north façade is a shed roof porch on which is a front-gabled dormer that opens into the porch rather than into the second story of the house, so is purely ornamental. It
has a pointed window with Queen Anne sash. The porch has turned posts, spindle frieze and a jigsaw-cut railing. There is also a one-story bay window on the cross-gable section of the
house. 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 1892, Leslie Belding, proprietor of the Troy Steam Laundry on Masonic Street, purchased a part of a lot on Graves Avenue. This street
had been opened in 1884 through the Graves homestead on Market Street and by 1895 had fourteen of the present fifteen structures erected. These covered the entire range of residential
building types, leading the Gazette to proclaim this ‘our most citified street.’ This house is one of four single family houses on the street.” 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. 449-P. 377