39 Chapel Street
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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
38A-8 Easthampton NTH.2177
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 39 Chapel Street
Historic Name: Mina and Idea Mann House
Uses: Present: single-family house
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1860
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Greek Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: metal shingles and asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
House extended two bays on rear, ca. 1900; ell added after
1900.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.516 acres
Setting: This house is screened from Chapel Street by a
dense row of shrubbery. It is a corner lot in a neighborhood
of small one-and-a-half story farmhouses.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [39 Chapel Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2177
___ 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.
The Mann sisters’ house is a one-and-a-half story Greek Revival style house under a front-gable roof. Rather than the common
width of three bays, this house is a more ample four bays wide and six bays deep. The house has a two bay addition on the
north and a one-story ell on the rear for a long rectangular plan. The entry door surround on the south has Greek Revival
pilasters supporting an entablature that has been partially covered by the addition of a porch, but within the surround is a two-
light transom. The house’s cornerboards and frieze are wide in Greek Revival fashion, and windows have drip edge lintels with
6/6 window sash that was common during the Greek Revival style period. The main block of the house has metal shingle
roofing material, the ell has asphalt. This is a well-maintained building that is representative of much of the architecture of
Northampton in the mid-19th century.
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 1980 Form B, “In 1860 Mina and Idea Mann, daughters of Asenath and Henry Mann, purchased a half acre of land
bounded southerly by Westhampton Road (now Chapel St.) and northerly by Burts Pit Road. Laurel Street, the current easterly
bound is not mentioned in this deed. Mr. Mann was a farmer and the property remained in the family into the early 20 th century.
This area was known as ‘Pancake Plain’ and during the mid-19th century was developed into a small community. After the
Northampton State Hospital was sited near here in the mid-1850s the area became known as Hospital Hill.”
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.
Registry of Deeds: Book 198, page 75; Book 196 Page 47; Book 108 page 126; Book 107 page 21.