Middle Street 62.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-57 Easthampton NTH.178 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 62 Middle Street Historic
Name: John W. Bird House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: ca. 1885 Source: Atlas and Directories Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: vinyl Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Replacement windows installed
ca. 2000 and fenestration altered on north. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.156 acres Setting: This house faces north and is near the corner of Maple Street,
one of the main Florence streets.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [62MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.178 _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 one of the larger houses on Middle Street, although it is on one of the smaller lots. It
is two-and-a-half stories in height and has a front-gable roof with a cross-gable wing on the west and a two-story ell on the south. The vinyl-sided, Queen Anne style house is three
bays wide and it has a wraparound porch that crosses the north façade and turns on to the west façade where it has been enclosed and glassed-in. The porch has turned posts supports with
high pedestals and impost blocks and curved braces at the eaves give it an arcaded appearance. Windows in the house have simple drip mold lintels, and on the west wing is a Queen Anne
style, multiple-pane staircase window adjacent to a through-eaves exterior chimney. With the exception of the Queen Anne window, the other openings have replacement 1/1 sash. In the
gable field of the north façade new windows have been inserted to bring light into the attic level. 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: “This large, late 19th century house
was built on a small lot separated from a larger lot that faced Maple Street. The first known owner was John W. Bird, who had a ‘news office’ with ‘books and periodicals’ at the corner
of Main and Maple Streets in Florence. Mr. Bird is first listed in Center Street (now known as Middle Street) in the 1885 directory, but no specific number is given. The house doesn’t
appear on the 1884 atlas, but is represented on the 1895 atlas.” 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] [62MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.178 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 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.