Crafts Avenue
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
31D-167 Easthampton NTH.795
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: Crafts Avenue
Historic Name: Northampton Gas Light Company
Uses: Present: commercial space
Original: gas plant and storage building
Date of Construction: 1856
Source: History of Northampton
Style/Form: utilitarian
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: under 1 acre
Setting: The gas works building is set at the foot
of a hill in Northampton center.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [CRAFTS AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.795
_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.
The gas works building is composed of two sections: a one-story, round gas holder building under a tall, circular slate roof with a
round cupola at its peak, and a two-story, square, brick gas plant building with an irregular, slate-covered, roof form. The two
sections are attached by a short connector at second floor level. The circular gas holder has entries on the south and east and
the gas plant has an entry on the south. Walls of the gas holder are paneled into story-high bays that are slightly recessed.
Centered on several of the bays are square-headed windows with 6/6 sash. The building has a corbelled cornice below its
eaves and a cupola with narrow windows letting light to the interior. The gas plant has irregularly placed, segmentally arched
windows on it south façade and two stories of three bays on its west elevation. Windows have 6/6 sash. This building with its
two sections is an architectural landmark in Northampton representing a rare survival of a very specific industrial building type.
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 1974: “The Northampton Gas Light Company was organized April 18, 1855. In 1856, the town was illuminated
with gas. Prior to this, homes were only lit with kerosene and ‘burning fluid.’
The original charter issued in 1853 to William Stoddard, Samuel Fisk, and Daniel Kingsley. The works were completed
in 1856 at a cost of 35,000 dollars. Capital was $50,000. The first places served were on Shop Row, and by 1895, there were
over 600 consumers. Twenty-two million feet of gas was made annually at the plant at the foot of Crafts Avenue. The price of
gas at first was $4 a thousand feet, a year later $3, then $2 and by 1895 was $1.60. Twelve miles of pipe serviced customers at
that time.
There were three gas holders, round and made of brick, with slate roofs. One remains. The making of gas was a day
and night job for two gangs of men. The works were on one of the yard tracks of the Canal Railroad, and coal could be easily
unloaded into the company’s great coal shed.
The new Gas Light Company building was given to the City of Northampton, together with the 1856 gas plant and gas
holder, in 1974.”
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 ] [CRAFTS AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.795
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.
The Northampton Gas Works Building is an iconic building of center Northampton and represents the 19th century
growth of energy utilities that took place throughout the state. It is one of the few gas works buildings remaining in
the Commonwealth. Architecturally, it is significant as an example of the design that was devised for a gas storage
building and its round masonry result that was both pragmatic and aesthetically pleasing. The gas works has integrity
of materials, design, setting, feeling and workmanship.