46 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
32A-175 Easthampton NTH.2070
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 46 Bridge Street
Historic Name: Isaac Damon House
Uses: Present: museum
Original: single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1812
Source: The Northampton Book
Style/Form: Federal
Architect/Builder: Isaac Damon, architect
Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite blocks, brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: not visible and asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
gazebo
Major Alterations (with dates): museum ell added.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.534 acres
Setting: This south-facing building is set on a deep lot. On
its west is a shopping center. The tree-shaded section of
Bridge Street at this point begins the residential section of
the street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [46 BRIDGE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2070
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is already on the National Register.
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 Northampton’s finest examples of high-style Federal architecture. It is a two-story building under a low hipped roof
that is encircled by a latticed balustrade topped by urn ornaments. There are two interior chimneys extending above the roof.
The main block of the house is five bays wide and three bays deep and windows have 6/6 sash. The center entry on the south
façade has a portico with matching balustrade on its hipped roof and is supported on two Doric columns with respondent
pilasters. The door surround is an architrave surround that is repeated for the windows. The clapboard-sided house rests on
dressed stone foundations. On the north side of the building are two ells. A two-story ell under a gable roof, followed by a one-
and-a-half story ell, which is a 20th century addition. There is a one-story entry addition in the angle between the main block and
the ells. It has a circular brownstone stoop leading to its single-leaf door. The one-and-a-half story ell has an arcaded porch on
its east elevation. It is six bays long, three of which bays are French doors, two are windows with 6/6 sash and one bay is a
secondary entry. There is an exterior wall chimney on the north end of the ell.
A gazebo is located at the north east corner of the property.
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 1970, “Isaac Damon, an architect of national renown, constructed this imposing house for his own home in
1812. In addition to the house, Damon erected 13 churches, 25 bridges, and 14 other buildings including several notable
factories. The house was naturally built in the best fashion of the day, since Damon is thought to have studied under Asher
Benjamin and Ithiel Towne, two other early architects active in the Connecticut River Valley.”
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.
Merrill, David Oliver. Isaac Damon and the Architecture of the Federal Period in New England, Yale Ph.D. dissertation, 1965.
Miller, D. L. Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895.
Putnam, Karl. The Northampton Book, Part III.
Registry of Deeds, Book 983, Page 378.
Springfield Union, August 29, 1959.
Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884.
Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860.