Harrison Avenue 50.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-224 Easthampton NTH.536 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 50 Harrison Avenue Historic Name:
William A. Coburn House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1894 Source: Registry of Deeds, Atlas, & Springfield Daily Republican
Style/Form: Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with
dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.215 acres Setting: This is a west-facing house on a residential street of mainly turn-of-the-century houses.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [50 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.536 _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 house that is an asymmetrical Colonial Revival in style, a relatively
early version of the style. That is, it has a pyramidal hipped roof with a cross-gable at one side of the west façade and is thereby asymmetrical. The main block of the house is a four-square
– a simple square box under a hipped roof. It is three bays wide on its west façade with a center entry flanked on the south by an angled bay window of two stories and on the north by
a small stair window. A stacked porch on flared posts wraps across the west to the north at first story level. Connecting the posts are railings with turned balusters. A second story
section of the porch, one bay wide, has a pedimented roof on the west and open arched sides on north, west, and south. The house is clapboard sided on the first story and shingled on
the second story as was common practice for the Colonial Revival style. With its flared posts and arched porch openings, this house was a progressive version of its style in 1884. 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: “This house was built in 1894 for William Coburn at a cost of $4000. Mr. Coburn was co-owner of a Main Street drug store. Harrison Avenue was opened
in 1890, and by 1895, nine houses had been constructed. Most of the other houses were constructed early in the 20th century.” 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. 411
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [50 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.536 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 on the south side of 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. 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.