Harrison Avenue 75.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-216 Easthampton NTH.530 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 75 Harrison Avenue Historic Name:
Charles W. Spear House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family house Date of Construction: 1902-1903 Source: Springfield Daily Republican Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick, concrete Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Wing added, ca.
1980. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.196 acres Setting: This house faces southeast on a quiet, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [75 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.530 _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. While the houses at 60 and 64 Harrison Avenue represent the free-interpretation of the Colonial
Revival style that characterized the turn-of-the-century versions of the style, this house, somewhat later in date, demonstrates the beginning of a return to stricter interpretation
of the country’s Colonial architecture. The house is two-and-a-half stories under a hipped roof. There There are hipped roof dormers on three visible elevations and roof eaves are modest
in width. The house at second story level is five bays wide and the equivalent of five bays deep for a square, symmetrical plan following Colonial precedent. A full-width, hipped roof
porch crosses the west façade. It is supported by paired and tripled, ¾ length columns resting on solid piers. At first story level the house is three bays wide and has a center entry
with a broad trabeated surround with sidelights. The first story is therefore, following a freer interpretation of the Colonial Georgian style. A triple window composition framed by
pilasters occupies the center bay of the second story on the east façade. 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 for Charles Spear in 1902-03 at a cost of $8000.
The house is is possibly from designs of local architect R.F. Putnam, who designed several houses in the Colonial Revival style on Harrison Avenue around the turn-of-the-century. Mr.
Spear was clerk for McCallum’s Main Street department store.” 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 ] [75 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.530 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.