Main Street 240.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-165 Easthampton NTH.792 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center Address: 240 Main Street
Historic Name: Memorial Hall Uses: Present: Meeting Hall, Museum Original: Library, Meeting Hall, Museum Date of Construction: 1872 Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette Style/Form: French
Second Empire Architect/Builder: James McLaughlin of Cincinnati, architect Exterior Material: Foundation: granite Wall/Trim: brick, granite, sandstone, metal Roof: slate, copper Outbuildings/Secondar
y Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Some windows replaced with fake muntins, ca. 2005. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: Setting: Memorial Hall is set back
from the street behind a circular walkway along which are memorials to war dead from Northampton. The walkways are marked by wooden posts with linking chains.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [240MAIN STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.792 ___ 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. Memorial Hall is one of the finest public buildings in Northampton. It is a two-story red brick
building with contrasting sandstone trim set on a high granite foundation made up of reticulated blocks. It has a slate-covered hipped roof with a copper trimmed, slate-covered mansard
roof centered above its north façade. The two sections of the roof are topped by a wrought iron balustrade. A broad pressed metal cornice surrounds the roofline and is ornamented with
oversized modillion blocks and supported on brackets. On the north façade the cornice has a centered, segmentally arched, pressed metal pediment above a projecting pavilion that is five
bays wide. The center entry in the pavilion occupies both first and second stories and is reached by a granite stoop at each side of which is a pedestal on which is a life-sized, bronze
statue. On the west the statue represents the navy and on the east the statue represents the army. The pavilion is framed by two piers framing a center entry that has a granite architrave
surround with a keystone made of dressed granite blocks under a dentil ornamented cornice. Within the opening of the entry is a panel-sided, wooden entry under a two-part transom. The
entry doors are recessed within this composition. The piers rise through the third story where they are paneled with sandstone molding on their exposed elevations. Within the piers are
three recessed recessed windows with 1/1 sash. At each side of the pavilion the building has single bay. On the basement level it is a segmentally arched opening, at the first story
it is a tall opening with an architrave surround of sandstone topped by a cornice and containing 2/2 sash. At the second story level is a pair of windows under a single, sandstone lintel.
The windows of the east and west elevations follow the same pattern. On the second story they are divided by brick piers with sandstone capitals carved in an Eastlake pattern. Sandstone
stringcourses encircle the main block and form the window sills that are also footed. There is a two-story ell on the south elevation, four bays long. Its windows have sandstone straight-headed
lintels and sills. 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: “In 1871, Memorial Hall was built on the hill above the Gas Light Company buildings. Public subscription and town funds
contributed equally to its construction. Books from other local libraries were consolidated at the new Clarke Library and reading rooms on the main floor. A bequest of $40,000 by John
Clarke maintained the library. In memory of the soldiers who served the town since 1654, a list of all of the city’s military men is displayed in the foyer. The second floor of Memorial
Hall now houses a collection of early Northampton artifacts, maintained by the Northampton Historical Society. The plan of Memorial Hall was executed by James McLaughlin of Cincinnati.
McLaughlin apparently never came to Northampton; William F. Pratt was charged with overseeing the actual construction of the building.” 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.