36 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-229 Easthampton NTH.693
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 36 Bedford Terrace
Historic Name: Mrs. Pomeroy’s Residence for College
Girls Uses: Present: apartments
Original: boarding house
Date of Construction: 1900
Source: Street directories and 1900 census
Style/Form: Tudor Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick, stucco, clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): renovated as apartments,
2008.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.236 Acres
Setting: This building occupies a corner lot and makes a
transition between a commercial area and a residential
area.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [36 BEDFORD TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.693
_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 a three-and-a-half story, Tudor Revival style apartment building with a side-gable roof and two transverse gables on its
south façade narrowly separated by a dormer on the roof, a single bay on the third and second floors, and an entry on the first
floor. The main block of the building is six bays wide and three deep and there is a shingle-sided ell on the north side of the
building that is two-and-a-half stories. The first floor of the main block is brick, the upper two-and-a-half stories are wood and
stucco ornamented in a faux half-timbering. Attached to the south east corner of the building is a four-story, crenellated, round
brick tower. Between first and second stories is a projecting jetty that rests on exposed joists. A porch extends across the south
façade of the building but is roofed over only in the center bay and with a railing on the roof creates a second floor porch. The
porch is supported on posts with arched braces enhanced with bosses. A pedimented porch entry rests on straight braces.
The center door is glass and paneling and adjacent to it are pairs of 1/1 window sash above paneled bases. This building is
unique in Northampton and is an early example of the Tudor Revival style.
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 uniquely designed residential building occupies a prominent corner site at State Street and
Bedford Terrace. It was built in 1900 as “Mrs. Pomeroy’s Residence for College Girls” at a cost of $23,000. In the 1900 directory
Elizabeth Pomeroy and her husband Charles lived next door to this building at 32 Bedford Terrace.“ Charles R. Pomeroy and
his wife Elizabeth built this apartment block as a boarding house for Smith College students. Providing housing “off -campus”
was a part of the Northampton economy. At a small scale, it meant taking in individual students in private residences, or running
a large house devoted to a number of students, but at this scale it was a developed business attended by five servants who lived
next door with the Pomeroys in 1900. Until about 1900 Bedford Terrace had been a street of large-scale, single-family
residences but as Smith College expanded its student body, there was a need for additional housing, so this building was
constructed followed by the conversion of numbers 8, 26 and 32 into dormitory/rooming houses.
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.
Northampton Directories of 1900 and 1905.
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] [36 BEDFORD TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.693
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.
Mrs. Pomeroy’s Residence 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. This was the first purpose-built private housing for college women on the street. 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 Tudor Revival style
building contributes to the diverse revivals. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling,
setting, design and materials.