17 Arlington Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
FORM B − BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: PVPC
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
24C-146 Easthampton NTH.310
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 17 Arlington Street
Historic Name: Edwin and Helen Bumstead House
Uses: Present: single-family residence
Original: single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1892-95
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: John and Frank Huxley, attributed
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.287 acres
Setting: This is a south-facing house on a tree-shaded,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [17 ARLINGTON STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.310
_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 well-preserved Queen Anne style houses on Arlington Street. Although it is modest in design, it exhibits well-
kept Queen Anne features. It is a two-and-a-half story front-gabled house that is three bays wide and two bays deep. There is a
two-and-a-half story ell on the north that is two bays long, and a transverse gable bay on the east for a shallow T -shaped plan.
The house is clapboard-sided but there are scalloped shingles in its gable field and on the porch fascia. The shed-roofed porch
rests on turned posts with scroll-cut brackets at its eaves. The porch railing has simple square balusters, like many of the other
Queen Anne style houses on the street. Window lintels and the entry door surround have drip edge lintels and windows are 1/1
wood sash. The house is very similar in plan and elevation to its neighbor at 15 Arlington Street, suggesting they may both have
been built by the same contractor according to a standard plan.
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.
According to the inventory form of 1980, “Arlington Street is a short connecting street between Franklin and Massasoit Streets
and was laid out in 1871. This was lot no. 9 on the original subdivision plan and it wasn’t built upon until the early 1890s. In
1892 Francis Cook a stone mason and contractor, purchased this lot and two years later sold it to Edwin and Helen Bumstead.
The Bumsteads are listed at this address in the 1895-96 directory and the house is shown on the 1895 atlas. Mr. Cook, who
lived on Massasoit Street was probably involved in the construction of this house, along with John Huxley, a carpenter who lived
at 13 Arlington Street and is known to have built several houses in this neighborhood.” In 1900 the Bumsteads were living here,
without children, and Edwin listed himself as a “Capitalist”. Capitalism seems to have agreed with Bumstead as he and his wife
were retired and still here in 1910 when Edwin had lived to 82, and Helen to 76.
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. Book 470, Page 508; Book 451, Page 2; Book 284, Page 325.
Northampton Directory. 1895-1896.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [17 ARLINGTON STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.310
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.
The Bumstead House would contribute to a large residential/institutional potential historic district north of
Northampton’s Elm Street. This district is significant as a mixed rural area of gentlemen’s farms and smaller rural
homes of Northampton’s farming/working residents at mid-19th century located on and around Round Hill, which
gave views and a romantic landscape to its residents. Several of these early houses remain from both ends of the
economic spectrum. The district’s period of greatest development occurred between 1880 and 1920 to house the
largely upper middle class of Northampton, its factory owners and managers, educators, business and building owners
in downtown Northampton, its lawyers and doctors. Development after 1890 was relatively swift and the history of
its residents is closely woven into the history of Northampton’s leaders in government, commerce, education, and
industry.
The potential district north of Elm Street is architecturally significant for the several remaining houses in Georgian
and Federal styles but it is dominated by high style examples of the Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne,
and Colonial Revival. Many of its buildings were architect-designed by Northampton and Springfield’s leading
architects, and others constructed by its most prominent builder/contractors. This district has integrity of materials,
workmanship, setting, and design.