Locust Street 269.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 23B-8 Easthampton NTH.234 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 267-269 Locust Street Historic
Name: Northampton Silk Co. Hosiery Mill Uses: Present: apartment complex Original: mill Date of Construction: c. 1910 Source: Atlases and visual evidence Style/Form: utilitarian Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick, concrete Wall/Trim: brick Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Entry shaft added to south façade
at time of conversion; windows in-filled and new sash inserted, balcony added to weave shed, 1980-2000. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 1.926 acres Setting: This
mill complex occupies a corner lot on the main street of Florence and is surrounded by a residential district.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [269 LOCUST STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.234 ___ 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. The Northampton Silk Company building is composed of three sections. The southernmost section is
a two-story brick building on a high basement and under a shallow, side-gable roof. This section of the building is nine bays wide and four bays deep and has an added glass and brick
stair tower centered on its south façade. Windows of this section, formerly industrial sized sash have been replaced and the new windows inserted into smaller openings that have been
filled in with metal spandrels. The second section of the building is one-and-a-half stories in height on a high basement and under a sawtooth roof, a roof form that was adopted in Massachusetts
for weave sheds and other industrial processes after 1890 as a means of allowing maximal natural light into the interior. What was originally glass on the sawtooth roof has been covered
with asphalt shingles. This section of the building is 10 bays long under 5 sawtooth shed projections. Windows in this section have been filled in with a stucco material, and new sash
inserted, replacing the earlier industrial sash. A balcony has been added to the west elevation for the apartment use. The third section was added after 1980 and is a one-story brick
and concrete addition without fenestration. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building,
and the the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. From Form B of 1980: “The Florence Tack Co. was established during the mid 1870’s and manufactured tacks and small
nails. This was one of the first suck concerns in western Massachusetts and was operated until the early 1890’s. At that time, the company failed and the shop remained idle. Early in
the 20th century, the property was purchased by the Northampton Silk Company, and the present two-and-a-half story brick block built at the corner of Holyoke Street (now Straw Avenue)
and Locust Street, as well as the ‘saw-toothed’ roofed mill.” 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.