351 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
25A-108 Easthampton NTH.372
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 351 Bridge Street
Historic Name: Moses Elwell House
Uses: Present: two-family house
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: 1881
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette July 26, 1881
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asbestos shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 2.5 acres
Setting: This house is set on a ridge that runs parallel to
the Connecticut River valley on the east. Its lot slopes
down to the east and the house is set close to the street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [351 Bridge Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.372
_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 one of two Gothic Revival style houses on this stretch of Bridge Street and like the William Hill House at 323 Bridge
Street, it is one-and-a-half stories in height and gable-and-wing in plan. The Elwell House has had fewer alterations than the Hill
House, however, so represents the style very well. The Gothic Revival roof is steeply pitched and on the wing section it has a
jerkin head roof. On the gable section it has a steeply-pitched gabled roof. In the angle of the two house sections is an open
porch that rests on a single post that is braced at the eaves. There are respondent pilasters at the wall of the porch with braces.
The porch railing is made up of fine, square balusters. There is a two-story ell on the east elevation for a long T-shaped plan.
The stylistic character of the house is largely carried by the windows and their surrounds. In the gable section on the west
façade at the second story is a pair of lancet windows under a pointed surround. The first floor is occupied by a three-sided bay
on a paneled base. A second three-sided bay window is located on the south elevation of the wing. Windows on the north
elevation have Gothic label lintels and there are two hipped dormers on the roof of the north elevation.
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 1975, “This clapboarded cottage was built in 1881 for Moses Elwell. The firm of Wm. F. Pratt and Son
furnished the plans. The house lot once consisted of five acres. Three acres of the original lot were sold when Interstate Route
91 was constructed. The proximity of I-91 to this end of Bridge Street may still affect the houses close to it. Note on map that
there are only two houses between I-91 and the Bridge Street cottages (351 and 337).”
337 Bridge Street has since been moved.
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.