186 Bridge Street
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: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
25C-159 Easthampton NTH.396
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 186 Bridge Street
Historic Name: Frank W. Twiss House
Uses: Present: single-family residence
Original: single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1913
Source: carriage house inscription; directories
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick, wood shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.285 acres
Setting: This house is located on the north side of the
Bridge Street Cemetery and is on a busy thoroughfare.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [186 BRIDGE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.396
_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 fine example of a Colonial Revival foursquare and is among the best-maintained versions of the style in Northampton.
It is a two-and-a-half story house under a pyramidal hipped roof with a tall chimney at its center ridge. The roof is made more
complex by a centered, hipped roof dormer and there transverse gable bays on north and south. The first story of the house is
brick and the second is wood shingle-sided. Typical of the Colonial Revival style, there is a shallow jetty between stories. The
house is only two bays wide, but its proportions are large. A full-width porch crosses the east façade. It is supported on
columns and has respondent pilasters on the house façade. A small pediment marks the location of the entry stairs to the porch
and a fine geometric railing runs between the columns. At the first floor level, window sills and lintels are brownstone and sash
is 6/2. There is diamond pane sash in the dormer windows, a common Colonial Revival feature.
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 a 1980 Form B, “The carriage house cupola has a “1913” inscribed on it, and this is probably the date of the house also.
The 1895 atlas shows this lot as being part of the much larger farm next door at 188 Bridge Street. The atlas also shows a barn
on the site of the present barn to this house so possibly the 1913 refers to the date the barn was stuccoed and changed hands .”
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.
Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884.
Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860.
Northampton Directory: 1905, 1915, and 1917
Hampshire County Registry of Deeds, Book 5890, Page 280, Book 1706, Page 103, Book 1426, Page 459, Book 890, Page 49
after that title can be found in the Registry of Probate under the will of one Marion E. Twiss sometime between 1933 and 1913.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [186 BRIDGE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.396
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.
This house would contribute to a potential Pomeroy Terrace historic district that developed primarily south and east of
the Bridge Street Cemetery from the second third of the 19th century as Northampton’s finest residential district.
Original residents here were merchants, retired farmers, lawyers, and other professions. As the century progressed the
adjacent streets were laid out for the growing middle class with railroad personnel joining clerks, teachers, and others.
Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the fine examples of the 19th century architectural styles
from the Greek and Gothic Revivals, Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. The district includes
significant examples of the work of Northampton architect William Fenno Pratt. This potential historic district has
integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.