Main Street 135.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 31D-147 Easthampton NTH.782 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 135-139 Main Street Historic Name:
Northampton National Bank Uses: Present: Commercial, single-family residence Original: Bank Building, office, and single-family residence Date of Construction: 1866 Source: Daily Hampshire
Gazette, Oct. 30, 1866 Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt, architect, Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: granite Wall/Trim: cast iron, stone, brick
Roof: not visible Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.03 acres Setting: This is a south-facing
building on a corner lot that is set on a granite stoop.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [135MAIN STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.782 ___ 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 National Bank is a three-story building with a cast iron façade that is divided
into four bays by pilasters that are variously ornamented with panels, on two floors of which there are also floral or geometric reliefs mid-way in the panels. The first story of the
building has its recessed entry to the upper stories in the westernmost bay while the remaining three bays bays are devoted to the first story commercial space with an entry and two
windows. Set on wood paneled bases, the two store windows have tall, square-headed windows and all four openings have square transom lights. The second story has four bays of segmentally
arched windows with keystones in their arched lintels. The third story has four bays of arched windows with archivolt surrounds and centered keystones. The building’s windows have replacement
1/1 metal sash. Cast iron was a popular commercial façade for the ornament and decorative variety that it could take and the Northampton National Bank building is a fine example of this
architectural achievement. 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 1975: “This building is the work of local architect W. F. Pratt. It is interesting that the old Bank building has survived
to the present day: the great deficiency of cast-iron as a building material was its tendency to weaken and collapse when exposed to heat. Major town fires occurred to the west of the
bank in 1870 and to the east of the bank in 1874. In January 1876, the building was the scene of the famous Great Bank Robbery. $1,500,000—the largest amount of money stolen in the U.S.
until that time—was stolen from the safe and secreted in the attic of one of the brick school house opposite the Bridge Street cemetery entrance. The robbers were ultimately brought
to justice. (Judge Forbes had his office and living quarters on the third floor of the bank.)” 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.