26 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): June, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31B-227 Easthampton NTH.691
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 26 Bedford Terrace
Historic Name: Maria Warner House
Uses: Present: 11-room college residence
Original: single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1897
Source: Springfield Daily Republican
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.198 Acres
Setting: This south-facing house is set back from the
street on a lot that slopes down to the east. Trees and
shrubbery surround it on three sides.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [26 BEDFORD TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.691
_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 an elegant version of the Colonial Revival style as it has a pair of rounded bays at each side of the main entrance. The
house is two-and-a-half stories in height under a truncated hipped roof, as at 32 Bedford Terrace. The Colonial Revival style
house is entered beneath a porch on fluted Doric columns. The porch is topped by a balustrade with narrow, square balusters.
The center door is flanked by two high windows rather than sidelights. At the second floor level the two center bays are arched
windows with 1/1 sash. Above them, on the roof is a pedimented dormer that contains a row of four small, 1/1 windows. The
rounded bays contain on the first floor a three-part window and at the second floor level a pair of 1/1 windows.
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 1980, “This is one of four large Colonial Revival style residences built on Bedford Terrace around the turn of the
century. This one was built for Maria Warner in 1897 at a cost of $8000.” The house in 1910 was occupied by Annie F. Akin,
her widowed sister Martha and three servants. Annie was a college matron and the three servants were a cook, a waitress and
a chambermaid for a college residence. They were the only residents of the house according to the census suggesting that this
was a Smith College house for its staff who worked for a nearby dormitory. By 1937, however, the building was an apartment
house with 11 tenants, both men and women, whose occupations were varied and not college-related.
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.
Hampshire Daily Gazette, November 30, 1895.
Miller, D. L. Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895.
Springfield Daily Republican, December 28, 1895, p. 4.
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] [26 BEDFORD TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.691
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 Warner 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 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. This potential historic
district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.