47 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): October, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31D-26 Easthampton NTH.750
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 47 Belmont Avenue
Historic Name: Franklin King House
Uses: Present: college dormitory
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: 1913
Source: Springfield Daily Republican, 1913
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.146 acres
Setting: House is located in a neighborhood of large
college buildings, residences and residences converted to
college use.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [47 BELMONT AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.750
___ 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 one of the least altered of the Colonial Revival style houses of this neighborhood and is a good example of the late
version of the style. It is a two-and-a-half story house under a front-gabled roof whose eaves make full returns to create a
pediment whose field is shingled. First and second stories of the house are clapboard sided. A full-width porch crosses the east
façade. It is supported by triple, half-length columns that rest on brick piers. Respondent pilasters ornament the rear porch wall.
A pediment on the porch roof marks the location of the stairs. Although the house is relatively simple and unornamented, it was
given variety and complexity of volume by the use of a shallow, three-sided bay on the second floor of the façade, a one-story
square bay and a two-story three sided bay on the south elevation, and a shed roof dormer on the roof. There is a one-story
rear ell, as well.
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 house was built at a cost of $4500 in 1913 for Franklin King superintendent of buildings at Smith
College. Belmont Avenue had been opened in the 1890s through some older homesteads between Green and West Streets.
Ahwaga and Arnold Avenues were also built at about the same time. During the early years of the 20th century these streets
were built up residentially, mostly with Colonial Revival style houses.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Springfield Daily Republican, December 29, 1913.