Prospect Street 26.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 31B-179 Easthampton NTH.658 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 26 Prospect Street Historic Name:
Judge Samuel Howe House Uses: Present: Dormitory Original: Residence Date of Construction: c. 1825 Source: Smith College records Style/Form: Greek Revival Architect/Builder: Thomas Pratt,
attributed Exterior Material: Foundation: stone Wall/Trim: clapboards, flushboard Roof: slate, asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): West ell added,
ca. 2000. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 3.4 acres Setting: Howe House is is set on a rise in the landscape and is set back from the street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [26 PROSPECT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.658 __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 Samuel Howe House is a Greek Revival style building two and a half stories in height beneath
a front-gabled roof that makes full returns to create a pediment. The pediment is set on four, colossal, Ionic columns. The tympanum of the pediment is flushboarded and has a recessed
center field in which is a pair of windows. The house rests on high granite foundations and is five bays deep and three bays wide. The east façade has a center entry with a leaded glass
transom and leaded glass sidelights. The door surround is an architrave surround with cornerblocks. This surround is repeated on the façade windows. First floor windows are full length.
Windows have replacement sash. On the roof are four interior chimneys and hipped roof dormers. There is an extensive ell on the west elevation of the building. A recent addition, it
is clapboard-sided and has a large cross-gable in whose angle is a side-porch. The Greek Revival style made an early western Massachusetts appearance in Northampton ca. 1820 and this
house is one of its finest examples. 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 1970: “Similar to the handsome houses of Elizah Hunt Mills and Judge Charles A. Dewey, this house was built
c. 1825 for Judge Samuel Howe and was also, similarly, the scene of gracious hospitality and good living. Judge Howe, along with E.H. Mills established a law school which flourished
here in Northampton for 7 or 8 years (c. 1823-1830) and among its students was Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States. George Bancroft, the historian, was also connected
with the law school. Later, as part of the Mills estate, it was a part of the Burnham School and later became the main building of the Capen School for girls under Miss Capen, who carried
on the school after Miss Burnham’s death. Miss Capen lived in the house and left it to the college in 1921. It has since been a dormitory for Smith College.” 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] [26 PROSPECT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.658 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 potential Round Hill Historic District. This potential historic district is significant according to
criteria A and C and would have local significance. The residential streets that cross Round Hill are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of development in Northampton
from the early 19th century (1807) through the 1950s. Residential development began on Round Hill with the establishment of gentleman’s estates but grew with schools and a resort hotel
until the 1890s when residential development increased significantly. From the 1890s through the 1950s (1959 McAlister Infirmary) Round Hill became home to Northampton’s wealthy and
to the Clarke School for the Deaf. Architecturally this area of Northampton is significant for the range of residential architectural styles including the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival,
and for its institutional buildings in the French Second Empire, through High Victorian Gothic and Colonial Revival styles ending with the American International style. The potential
district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.