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20 Bedford Terrace 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): April, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31B-253 Easthampton NTH.711 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center Address: 20 Bedford Terrace Historic Name: Baldwin House Uses: Present: college dormitory Original: college dormitory Date of Construction: 1908 Source: Smith College Archives Style/Form: Georgian Revival Architect/Builder: Charles A. Rich, architect, New York Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: under one acre Setting: Building is one of two dormitories on this short street. It is on a lot that slopes down to the east. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [BEDFORD TERRACE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.711 _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. Baldwin House is a Smith College dormitory in the Georgian Revival style. An architect-designed building, its Georgian Revival style derives as much from Southern architecture with its end wall chimneys and grand porch as from New England. It is three- and-a-half stories under a side-gabled slate roof with integral end wall chimneys on east and west elevations. The building is seven bays wide and six bays deep with a rear ell of three-and-a-half stories and a depth of seven bays. It has a T-shaped plan. The ell also has integral end wall chimneys. The north façade of the dormitory has a row of seven, front-gabled, frame dormers corresponding to the building’s seven bay façade. The ell roof has a row of four dormers on its west elevation. A center entry to the main block of the building is reached through a porch three bays wide supported on composite capital columns. The porch has a semi-circular railing with elegant turned balusters and a pediment above the stairs. A center door to the building is flanked by two windows, all three openings topped with fanlights. At each side of the porch at first floor level are three-sided bay windows. Windows throughout the building have 6/6 sash. A brownstone watertable encircles the building. 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 1977, “Opened in 1908, Baldwin House was named for William and Ruth Baldwin. Ruth Standish Bowles Baldwin received a B. A. Degree from Smith in 1887. She was secretary to Smith College president Seelye from 1888-1889, and Alumnae Trustee 1906-1929, and 1927-1932. Her husband William H. Baldwin, Jr. was president of the Long Island Railroad Company 1895-1905, Trustee of Smith 1898-1905, and a public-spirited philanthropist and civic reformer. The Baldwins influenced the history of Smith College by provided $200,000 to increase its endowment and to finance the building of John M. Greene Hall.” BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Smith College Archives 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 FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [BEDFORD TERRACE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.711 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. Baldwin House would contribute to a potential Bedford Terrace historic district that developed after the street was laid out at the end of the 19th century with houses built by well-to-do merchants, educators and independently wealthy residents. Many of the first owners were single women several of whom were professional academicians and physicians . The street is significant for its long association with Smith College as early on it became a part of the Smith College housing plan when the school had insufficient on-campus housing and a growing student body. At the end of the 19th century the houses became student boarding houses, dormitory residences or single rooms were rented out. The Bedford Terrace association with Smith College grew even stronger with construction of this dormitory, one of two large-scale dormitories on the street. Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the fine examples of the Colonial Revival style that line its western side and for the architect-designed Revival style dormitories on its eastern side. Baldwin House, designed by well-known New York architectural firm of Lamb and Rich is part of this firm’s major educational work. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.