42 Beacon 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
Please see attached Continuation Sheet
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: PVPC
Date (month / year): 10/2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
23A-214 Easthampton NTH.223
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 42 Beacon Street
Historic Name: William and Lola Cordes House
Uses: Present: Single-family house
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1907-1908
Source: Registry of Deeds and Directory
Style/Form: Tudor Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: fieldstone
Wall/Trim: stucco and shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.71 Acres
Setting: House faces north on a quiet residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [32 Beacon Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.223
_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 the single example of the Tudor Revival style on Beacon Street, and is a rather rare example in all of Florence. It
is a two-and-a-half story house under a side-gable roof with a transverse gable bay on its north façade for a T-shaped plan. A
polygonal bay window on the west side of the transverse gable adds complexity to the plan. On the east side of the transverse
gable is a front-gabled porch whose deep porch rests on massive fieldstone piers. The house is stucco–covered on the upper
stories with Tudor Revival style half-timbering in the gable ends, and has shingles at the first floor level. It rests on fieldstone
foundations. The porch has exposed rafter ends and a shaped tie beam below half-timbering. On the east elevation is a shed
roof porch on Doric columns. An eyebrow dormer on the main roof is a Shingle Style feature.
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 the Form B of 1980, “This large turn-of-the-century residence was built for William and Lola Cordes. Cordes was a
prominent local businessman at this time working for the Florence Manufacturing Company. He worked his way up from sales
manager to general manager and treasurer, and then became president of the company in the early 1920s. Mr. Cordes also
served as president of the Florence Savings Bank.
Beacon Street was laid out during the 1860s and connected Pine and South Main Streets along the top of the river terrace.
George Burr, a prominent Florence industrialist bought 8 ½ acres on both sides of the street n 1868 and had his own homestead
built and sold a few lots off over the next decade-and-a-half. After Burr’s death his widow sold a few more lots. The Cordes
house backs up to the terrace drop-off and is well set back from the street.”
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.
Registry of Deeds. Book 621-page 361.
Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884.
Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [32 Beacon Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.223
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 Cordes House would contribute to a Beacon Street Historic District developed and resided in by some of
Florence’s leading industrialists in the 1860s-1910s. It represents the shift in Florence from neighborhoods that
mixed mill workers’ housing with mill owners’ housing of the first half of the century to that of neighborhoods of
economically-similar residents with, in this case, large lots, grand homes set back from a broad street.
Architecturally, the district is significant for its range of high style homes and a church in the Stick Style, Italianate,
Queen Anne and Tudor Revival styles. Further research would indicate which among them were architect-designed,
as many certainly were. The Cordes House is a fine example of the Tudor Revival style, or which there are relatively
few in Florence.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [32 Beacon Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
NTH.223