21 Belmont Avenue
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
31D-41 Easthampton NTH.754
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 21 Belmont Avenue
Historic Name: Belmont Apartments
Uses: Present: 7 unit apartment building
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: 1895-1915
Source: Atlases of 1895 and 1915
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Multiple-car garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Two story porch and east wing added; wooden decks, vinyl
siding and vinyl replacement windows, ca. 2000.
Condition: good/fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.236 acres
Setting: This building is set in a neighborhood of homes
converted to College use and college buildings.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [21 BELMONT AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.754
___ 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.
The Belmont Apartments building began as a large scale, Colonial Revival style single-family house and was then converted to
an apartment block by the addition of a two-and-a-half story wing with decks, and a two-story porch. It has been vinyl-sided and
vinyl replacement windows installed so few of its Colonial Revival features remain evident. The main block of the building is a
two-and-a-half story house with a slate-covered hipped roof. It is three bays wide and is crossed by a full-width porch on its
north façade. There are front-gable dormers centered on each elevation and the façade. The porch has fluted posts supporting
its hipped roof and the stairs are marked by a pediment on the roof whose tympanum contains a floral relief. Centered on the
north façade at the second story level is a Palladian window composition now closely framed in vinyl. The two-and-a-half story
wing was added with a hipped roof to match that of the main block. It is two bays wide and two bays deep and has a wooden
deck/fire escape structure across its east elevation. This building is among the less well-preserved of the Colonial Revival
houses converted to college use in the neighborhood.
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, “Belmont Avenue was laid out in the late 1890s through the property of Mrs. R. H. Crane on Green Street,
and the property of Joseph Lord on West Street. Most of the houses on that street were constructed early in the 20th century
and feature Colonial Revival style. “
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire Massachusetts, New York, 1873.
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.
Northampton Directories of 1905, 1915, 1922.