51 College Lane (2)
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
Please see attached continuation sheet.
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31D-11 Easthampton NTH.374
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 51 College Lane
Historic Name: Smith College Faculty Club
Uses: Present: Conference Center
Original: Faculty Club
Date of Construction: 1960
Source: Smith College archives
Style/Form: International Style
Architect/Builder: William and Geoffrey Platt,
architects, New York Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete
Wall/Trim: brick
Roof: built-up roofing
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 6.62 acres
Setting: This building is set on a narrow ridge of land
above Paradise Pond.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [51 College Lane]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.374
___ 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.
At the time architects William and Geoffrey Platt designed this building for Smith College, architects across the country were
adding buildings in the International Style to college campuses with more or less regard for fitting the style into the existing
campus context. As an addition to a Colonial Revival style house, this building shows no obvious regard for its predecessor, and
the strongest design factor linking the two is their white painted exterior. The Faculty Club is a one-story brick building on the
street side but becomes two stories on the Pond side as the land slopes precipitously to the water’s edge and exposes the
basement level of the building. The building has a flat roof, and, typical of the International Style, it has a single band of
fenestration across the east façade. The band has asymmetrically placed windows alternating with metal grilles, the closest thing
to ornament on a building where clean geometry rather than ornament is the leading principle of design. Where the east façade
presents a mainly solid brick wall, the pond side of the building is open and transparent with a curved glass wall offering views of
the Pond. The north elevation is devoted to loading dock and service entries.
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 1977 Form B, “ Completed in 1960, the Faculty Club on College Lane overlooks Paradise Pond. Designed by New
York architects William and Geoffrey Platt.”
William and Geoffrey Platt, graduates of Harvard and Columbia University, were the sons of Charles A. Platt, architect, and the
two followed their father’s architectural model by working for wealthy clients on residential and school projects from their New
York offices. This was not the first commission that the Platt firm had from Smith. In 1955 they designed Lamont House, a neo-
Georgian dormitory for the college on Prospect Street and followed that with Helen Hills Chapel, a Colonial Revival style building
on Elm Street, so the Faculty Club was a departure from their earlier work on the campus.
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 ] [51 College Lane]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.374