53 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-18 Easthampton NTH.145
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 53 Corticelli Street
Historic Name: J. Robinson House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: pre-1884
Source: 1884 Atlas
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.321 acre
Setting: This is a west-facing house on a shady,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [53 CORTICELLI STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.145
_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 Gothic Revival style house, one-and-a-half stories in height under a side-gabled roof with a front cross-gable. The
roofs of both sections of the house are steeply pitched and edged with ornamented bargeboards. The front cross-gable has an
angled bay on its west façade and in the north angle between the two sections of the house is a corner porch on a post with
solid brackets under a shed roof. To add visual interest to the exterior of the house there are shingles in the gable ends and
cornerboards and stringcourses dividing the exterior. Corticelli Street has several Gothic Revival style houses and this house
and the one at #34 are among the best preserved.
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 around 1860 atop the western terrace of the Mill River just above the three
water privileges that Florence developed around. The ’prospect’ is a fine view of the Florence meadows, extending westerly and
northerly. The first owner of this house was James Robertson, a foreman at the Florence Sewing Machine Company.” The
atlas of 1884 indicates that J. Robinson lived in the house.
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] [53 CORTICELLI STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.145
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.