34 Corticelli 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
22B-39 Easthampton NTH.150
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 34 Corticelli Street
Historic Name: Florence Manufacturing Company House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1860-1873
Source: atlases
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.32 acre
Setting: This is an east-facing house that sits on a crest
above the Mill River on its west.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [34 CORTICELLI STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.150
__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 well-preserved Gothic Revival style house built as workers’ housing but with more stylistic features than many similar
houses. It is one-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gabled roof that is thinly boxed, wide and has no returns. Three bays
wide and four bays deep it has a wrap around side porch on the south and west that is supported on turned posts with brackets
at its eaves. The entry is side-hall and is sheltered by a hood on Gothic Revival-inspired trefoil shaped braces. Windows have
hooded lintels on brackets. In the gable of the east elevation is a King Post truss ornament, often used in the contemporary
Stick Style. Windows on the second floor are grouped beneath a single lintel in Gothic style.
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: “Prospect Street was laid out between 1859 and 1861 along the top of the western terrace of the Mill
River. The ‘prospect’ was a fine view of the Florence meadows extending westerly and northerly. By 1873, most of the street
had been developed with small cottages. Most of them were individually owned, but a few had been erected by two local
industries, the Nonotuck Silk Company and the Florence Mfg. Company.”
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: Bk. 188-P. 389 and 399, 202-89 and 90
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [34 CORTICELLI STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.150
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.
This house would contribute to a Corticelli Street Historic District as it contributes to the street of typical 19th century workers’
housing of Florence. Company-built, privately-built, this street of houses was laborer-occupied from the 1860s through to the
20th century. Architecturally, it is representative of the modest houses built in the Gothic Revival, Stick Style and Queen Anne
that were current at the time of their construction by local builders who managed to use stock trim in novel ways and set each
building apart from its neighbors. They have been well-preserved and the street has retained its semi-rural setting that existed
when it was first laid out in the 1860s. The potential district has integrity of materials, design, setting, feeling, association and
workmanship.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [34 CORTICELLI STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
NTH.150
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.
This house would contribute to a potential historic district, the Corticelli Street Historic District. Historically, this
street of houses was constructed to serve the workers of Florence in the Silk Mills, the Florence Sewing Machine
Company, and the Florence Manufacturing Company. A narrative of their occupants is a narrative of immigrants,
laborers and their families that made up the 19th and 20th century history of Florence.
Architecturally, this house is significant as a fine example of the quality of workers’ housing in Florence and of the
housing built by workers themselves in the latest styles with plenty of decorative features. Between 1860 and 1884
the Gothic Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne styles were applied to virtually the same form building. The district
has integrity of workmanship, materials, feeling, setting and design.