Park Street 18.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):
April, 2011 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 23A-15 Easthampton NTH.162 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 18 Park Street Historic Name:
Kyle Estate Uses: Present: Eight-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: ca. 1865 Source: 1884 Atlas of Northampton Style/Form: Gothic Revival and Exotic
Revival Architect/Builder: Charles Jones, Architect, Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: board and batten, shingles, clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary
Structures: Carriage Barn Major Alterations (with dates): Rear deck added ca. 1980 Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.797 acres Setting: This house faces east on
a tree-lined residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 PARK STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.162 _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 house is unique in Northampton and probably in all of western Massachusetts. It is two-and-a-half
story house under a front-gable roof. It has a cross-gable that terminates in a polygonal tower under a truncated hipped roof on the south and a hipped roof wing on the north. The east
façade is three bays wide and is crossed by a two-story porch that wraps around to the north elevation. The first story of the house is clapboard-sided, the second story is board-and-batten
sided, and the third story of the tower and the area of the gable above a jetty is wood shingle sided. The second story and attic level made up the original house that was Gothic Revival
and maintain that style. A narrow Gothic Revival bargeboard ornaments the front gable. The porch, which was added when the house was raised a story, rests on the first story on paired
Italianate chamfered posts, and Eastlake incised brackets support a spindled frieze. There are no railings on the first story of the porch. The second story of the porch crosses the
east façade only and has a shallow shed roof. Lattice work posts with incised rosettes at their tops support the roof. The three bays of the porch are framed in shaped oval arches springing
from railing level. The spandrels between the arches and the posts are lattice-filled. This porch ornament follows no classical models but refers, if obliquely, to the Oriental Revival,
suggesting Middle Eastern design. Quite different in inspiration is the carriage barn. It is two-and-a-half stories under a side-gable roof and has a centered, front-gable. The first
story is recessed and the east façade is supported on braced posts. Attached to the northwest corner of the barn is a large round tower that has a fieldstone first story, shingled second
story, a shingled third story in a different pattern and fenestrated with a band of arched windows. The tower roof is bell-shaped. 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 1976: “Francis
Rosbrook bought 4 ½ acres on ‘Old Oil Mill Road’ from Samuel Hill in 1850 for $300. Two years later, he sold half of the premises with a ‘dwelling house’ back to Mr. Hill for $1000.
The property was passed through three other owners before being purchased by Oscar Kyle in 1884. Mr. Mr. Kyle was treasurer and manager of the Florence Machine Co. and soon after purchasing
the property had local architect Charles Jones ‘remodel’ the old cottage.” 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. Registry of Deeds:
Bk. 410-P. 337, 171-362, 154-255, 144-184, 144-182, 133-451
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 PARK STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.162 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. The potential district has integrity of workmanship,
design, feeling, association, and materials.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 PARK STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 3 NTH.162