Middle Street 57.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 Please see attached continuation sheet. Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission Date (month /year): March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 23A-257-001 Easthampton NTH.227 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village)
Florence Address: 57 Middle Street Historic Name: Hill Sewing Machine Factory Workers’s house Uses: Present: single-family house Original: single-family house Date of Construction: ca.
1884-1895 Source: atlases Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboard Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations
(with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.119 acres Setting: This This house faces south on a narrow, tree-shaded, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [57 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.227 __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 fine example of the high quality housing that was constructed in Florence, much of it
for workers in its industries. It is a one-and-a-half story house under a front-gable roof and has a two-story transverse gable on the east and a two-story bay window on the west. The
house has a substantial slate roof. It is three bays wide and has a wrap-around porch on chamfered posts on its south façade and west elevation. The porch railing has been removed. The
porch is ornamented with elaborate Queen Anne style scroll cut brackets at its eaves, and the front gable of the pitched roof has barge board trim in a neat geometric pattern. Window
surrounds and the main entry surround have simple drip moldings and window sash is 2/2. 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. In 1895 this street was known as East Center Street, and in the 1860s
after it was laid out it had been known as “Cement Houses Street”. This house appears on that atlas but without an attached name. In 1900 the house was owned by Gerhard Chrestima, a
German immigrant who rented out rooms in the house to lodgers. Among his lodgers were: William Shannon (silk dyer), Edward Clark (meat clerk), Hugh MacEwen (watch repairer) and Emil
Perrot (overseer in ornamenting room at brush factory). Renting rooms was a common means of making ends meet for people working in the local Florence industries. 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] [57 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.227
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [57 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 3 NTH.227 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.