Main Street 10 (FLORENCE).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):
February 2011 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 23A-115-001 Easthampton NTH.184 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 10 Main Street Historic
Name: Wells and Company Machine Shop Uses: Present: Office building Original: Factory Date of Construction: 1860 Source: 1860 map Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder: Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick/granite Roof: asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Windows replaced, ca. 2005 Condition: good Moved: no | x |
yes | | Date Acreage: 0.485 acres Setting: This building faces west on to Chestnut Street in a mixed commercial/residential neighborhood.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [10 Main Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.184 ___ 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 Wells & Co. Machine Shop Building was constructed in a design that was common for factories
during the second half of the 19th century as it is in brick construction, rectangular in plan beneath a side-gable roof and has a stair tower centered on its façade. The building is
three-and-a-half stories in height, 15 bays long, four bays deep, and its center stair tower is four stories tall. The brick building has granite sills and lintels on its straight-head
windows with 12/12 reproduction wood sash. The brickwork of the center tower creates recessed panels on each of the tower elevations and creates a corbelled cornice at the eaves line.
First story of the tower has a full-height, three-part composition window on its west façade with entries on its north and south elevations. The entries are sheltered by hoods that are
supported on cast iron scrolled consoles. 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 the Form B of 1975: “ Sewing machines were developed during the 1840s by Elias Howe, I. J. Greenough, G. H. Corliss;
in 1851 the first patent was obtained by Isaac Singer. The first “Florence Sewing Machine” was perfected and put on the market by Leander Langdon in 1861 and at about this time the Sewing
Machine Company opened in buildings of the former Wells & Company Machine Shop. The Florence manufactory produced the entire machine and its wooden case as well. The growth of the company
in the post-Civil War period was rapid; in 1865 the company employed 150 men and three years time doubled its capacity. In the 1870s the company diversified its operation, undertaking
the production of oil stoves. By the turn of the century, however, the concern was absorbed by a Connecticut concern, Central Oil and Gas Stove. In its early years local manufacturers
L. S. Hill D. G. Littlefield, and F. N. Look had controlled the company. “ 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. Smith College Studies in History, “A Chronicle of Industry on the Mill River,”, volume XXI, Nos. 1-4, p. 75-77. Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts,
Boston, 1884. Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860.