16-18 Columbus Avenue
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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: Jayne Bernhard-Armington
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): June, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
38B-123 Easthampton NTH.1036
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 16-18 Columbus Avenue
Historic Name: Second Congregational Society
Parsonage
Uses: Present: Two family
Original: One family
Date of Construction: 1892-93
Source: Registry of Deeds & 1895 Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Brick
Wall/Trim: Clapboard
Roof: Slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Two bay pyramidal garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: Good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.19 acres
Setting: House among other large single family or former
single family homes in a well-established residential
neighborhood of turn-of-the century homes, which contains
mature trees throughout.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [16-18 COLUMBUS AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.1036
_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.
This is a two-and-a-half story late Queen Anne style home with a side gabled roof. The house has a one-story hipped roof porch
that extends across full width of the three bay front façade. The Queen Ann style porch includes turned posts, fan brackets,
decorative balustrade and a lattice apron. At the center of the slate roof is a gabled dormer with sawtooth shingles in the gable.
On the northern elevation of the home, the roof extends to a one story rear ell at the northwestern corner but not at the
northeastern corner of the home. Also on this elevation is a small side entry porch with a shed roof. Most of the windows on the
house are six over two sash, but there are a few six over six sash windows as well. On the eastern elevation of the home is two
story bay with chamfered corners, decorative braces, and paneling on the first story. Also on this elevation, to the rear of the
home, is a two-bay attached shed with front gable roof. The house has retained its two brick chimneys that are located just over
the ridge line on the rear slope of the roof. The house is clapboard sided and rests on a brick foundation. The property also
includes a two bay garage with pyramidal roof.
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 1980, “Columbus Avenue, with lots on both sides, was filed on a subdivision plan in 1892. The Street was
opened through the South Street homestead of Elizabeth Clapp. The Clapp family is one of the oldest in the South Street area.
Preserved Clapp was granted land on the north side of the street, where today School Street and Fort Terrace are. This land,
obtained in 1661 when Preserved settled in Northampton, was to have served as a homestead, however, the ‘frontier’ nature of
Northampton prevented this. No settlement occurred west of the Mill River until 1696. Captain Roger Clapp, Preserved’s son,
settled on South Street in 1713. He occupied land on the South Side of the Street. Most of these lands remained in the Clapp
family through the 19th century. During 1892, the Second Congregational Society obtained lot number 4 of this subdivision and
built this house as a parsonage. Reverend Richard A. Griffin is listed as residing here in the 1892-93 directory.”
Howard Andersen has owned this home since at least 1980.
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.