Pleasant Street 29.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 32C-22 Easthampton NTH.931 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 29 Pleasant Street Historic Name: Cook
Block Uses: Present: Offices, stores, and residences Original: Offices, stores, and residences Date of Construction: ca. 1890 (1889-1895) Source: Registry of Deeds, 424.45 & 1895 Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder: C.H. Jones, architect, Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick, limestone, wood Roof: metal and not visible Outbuildings/Secondary
Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Windows replaced ca. 1980 Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.72 acres Setting: This building occupies a long corner lot
in downtown Northampton.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [29 PLEASANT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.931 _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. The Cook Block is one of Northampton’s most distinctive commercial buildings. The brick building
with limestone trim is three stories in height, under a flat roof. It is three bays wide on its east façade and approximately thirteen bays long. The first floor commercial space has
a cast iron storefront, one of whose piers supports a recessed corner entry. The storefront has been little changed from its origins with a sign band above the entry and glass storefront.
At the second story level the east façade is largely occupied by a broad arched window opening with three limestone blocks or voussoirs adding contrast to the brickwork. The arch encloses
four windows with double hung, 1/1 sash. In the spandrels of the arch are scroll-cut ornament. Limestone stringcourses separate first and second and second and third stories and along
the south elevation act to link the window sills and lintels. At the third story are three bays with a centered paired window under a segmental arch flanked by two smaller segmentally
arched windows. Their lintels are limestone. On the south elevation of the building the corner lot allowed the architect to add two oriel windows as architectural features that enhanced
the design of the building. The easternmost oriel rises three stories and is sided in a visually active combination of bands of shingles and carved ornament. The westernmost oriel is
smaller and and does not rise above the roofline, but adds interest through asymmetry and a similarly patterned exterior. 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: “This block was erected
on Pleasant Street shortly following the opening of Armory Street in 1889. B.E. Cook and his son were the first owners of the block; C.H. Jones of Northampton designed the block which
originally contained stores, apartments, and offices. Jones, born on Nantucket and a painter by trade, began to practice architecture in Northampton in 1871. The bulk of his work was
residential and in the Queen Anne style, but several hotels, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and the Lilly Library in Florence were also his work.” BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Beers, F.
W. County Atlas of Hampshire Massachusetts, New York, 1873. Hales, John G. Plan of the Town or Northampton 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, Hampshire County, 424.45