Middle Street 50.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, 2011 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 23A-130 Easthampton NTH.198 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 50 Middle Street Historic
Name: James Cunningham House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1873-1884 Source: Atlases Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles and metal Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates): Exterior wall chimney
added, ca. 1960 Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.328 acres Setting: This house is screened from the street by two extremely large arborvitae.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [50MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.198 __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. This is a two-and-a-half story house with a front-gable roof. It is three bays wide and the equivalent
of four bays deep and it has a two-story ell on the south for a long, rectangular plan. The north façade of the house has a full-width wraparound porch on posts connected by solid arches
that give it an Italianate arcaded appearance. It has an arched Italianate window in its north gable as well. The house has a two-story bay window on the east elevation beneath a cross-gable
on the roof. The angled bay window has a polygonal half-roof that rises to a point. This roof form above a two-story, angled bay window is found in Northampton with some frequency at
the turn of the century. This is one of its earlier appearances. 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: “The first known owner of this house was James Cunningham, a moulder.” 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 ] [50MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.198 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 Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence Center
is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land
and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around industry on the
Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry
that flourished through the Civil war as an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and Industry, a utopian community
that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive
slaves. It is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing Machine Company, which built its own housing. Architecturally
the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library
in the the Revival styles of the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. On Middle Street many of the houses are
further distinguished as being among the earliest workers’ housing made of concrete in Northampton. The potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association,
and materials.