24-28 Center 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
31D-149 Easthampton NTH.784
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 24-28 Center Street
Historic Name: IOOF Block
Uses: Present: commercial and residential
Original: commercial and residential
Date of Construction: 1911
Source: Springfield Daily Republican
Style/Form: Renaissance Revival
Architect/Builder: Karl Scott Putnam
Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete
Wall/Trim: brick, wood, limestone
Roof: tar and gravel
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): Windows made smaller
ca. 1990
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.103 acres
Setting: This building faces east on a narrow side street
off Northampton’s main commercial street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [24-28 Central Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.784
___ 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.
Smaller than its neighboring commercial building on the south, the Odd Fellows Block makes a similar architectural impact. This
is a three-and-a-half story, brick and limestone block that is three bays wide. The first floor center entry has a Classical Revival
style limestone surround with pilasters topped with consoles that support a full entablature. Above the entry surround is a
wrought iron railing. At the first floor level two flanking storefronts are beneath a limestone lintel. They have recessed entries
and side storefronts with frame and artificial materials. At the second floor the center bays have three part windows with
replacement 1/1/1 sash and an inner bay with two narrow 1/1 windows. The third floor bays have been infilled and have two-
panel sliding glass doors opening to wrought iron balconies in all three bays. The third floor openings have limestone keyst ones
and splayed corner blocks. Rusticated pilasters divide the top two floors into three bays. They extend to the attic level where
seven small attic windows open beneath a widely projecting wooden cornice on consoles. A parapet roof tops the façade.
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, “ The Odd Fellows Block was built in 1911 at a cost of $30,000. There were two stores on the first
floor and the I.O.O.F. used the two upper floors. The architect, Karl Scott Putnam, was the son of Roswell F. Putnam, a well-
known architect of the turn of the century period, and was just beginning his career at this time. After graduation from school he
had interned for two years in the New York office of Edward Tilton, and then returned to Northampton to join his father’s firm.
The elder Mr. Putnam died soon afterwards and Karl continued the practice. In the early 1920s he joined Smith College as a
professor of Architecture, a position he held for over forty years. Mr. Putnam was the most prominent architect of the first half of
the 20th century in Northampton.”
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.
Atlas of 1915.
Springfield Daily Republican, January 1, 1912.
Northampton Directory: 1922, 1930, 1965.
Smith College Archives