82 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-178 Easthampton NTH.2073
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 82 Bridge Street
Historic Name: George Sergeant House
Uses: Present: nine-unit house
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1820; remodeled 1869
Source: Hampshire Gazette, March 30, 1869
Style/Form: Greek Revival altered to Italianate
Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt, architect 1869
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: aluminum
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): Altered to Italianate style
in 1869.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.48 acres
Setting: This is a south-facing house, set close to the
street behind a privet hedge. Two large fir trees ornament
the front yard space.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON [82 BRIDGE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2073
__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.
Like its neighbor at 81 Bridge Street, the Lyman house was altered from an earlier style – in this case Greek Revival - to an
Italianate style, in the 1860s, to bring it up to date with its more recent Italianate style neighbors at 74 and 56 Bridge Street.
Most of the stylistic alterations at this house were focused on an entry porch. The house is two-and-a-half stories under a side-
gable roof. It is five bays wide, three bays deep and sits on high brick foundations. Remaining from its Greek Revival origins
are the wide architrave with entablature and frieze at the eaves, and returns in the gable ends. The house has two interior
chimneys. Windows have architrave surrounds and 2/1 sash that would have been a later alteration from 6/6 sash. To make
the house Italianate in style, the architect added a two-story portico one-bay wide that is topped by a pediment. The portico is
supported at both stories by piers on plinths, and between doubled corner piers are arched openings. At the first floor level the
entry is composed of a double leaf door with a transom light above it; at the second floor entry the double leaf door is
surmounted by an arched fanlight of two lights.
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.
The earliest known owner of this house was Horace Lyman who was here in 1825 according to an early deed, (“The Historical
Catalogue Northampton First Church from 1661 to 1891” confirms a man of this name indeed did live on Bridge Street and was
the father of “the late General Luke Lyman” who served in the Civil War,) at which time he sold the house to Asahel Abell. After
Horace Lyman the house changed hands four times including into the hands of a Moses Clark. In 1863 the Sergeant family had
acquired it.
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.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON [82 BRIDGE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2073
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.
The Lyman House would contribute to a potential Pomeroy Terrace historic district that developed 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. The Lyman House is one of at least
three houses in the district that Pratt altered to a new level of design and style. This potential historic district has
integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.