181 Crescent 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
24C-177 Easthampton NTH.316
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 181 Crescent Street
Historic Name: John Ruddy House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1896
Source: Atlas, Directory & Springfield Daily
Republican Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: metal with solar collectors
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
New metal roof with solar collectors added, second story
porch restored, 1990-2010.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.256 acre
Setting: This is an east-facing house on a leafy,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [181 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.316
_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 front-gabled, two-and-a-half story, Queen Anne style house with a gross-gabled roof on the south. In the angle
between the two sections of the building is a flat-roofed, two-story infill with an angled bay on its south elevation. The house has
a full-width porch across the east façade that includes the infill section. It is stacked and both stories of the porch have turned,
half-length posts on high pedestals. The posts are connected by square baluster railings. There is a large, fixed light window
next to the main entry of the house, and sash elsewhere in the house is 2/2 and 1/1. There is a shallow oriel window in the
shingled gable field of the east façade. The house has a two-and-a-half story, shed roof ell on the west elevation.
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: “Crescent Street was laid out in 1886 midway along the slopes of Round Hill. It quickly became one of
the most fashionable streets to build upon in Northampton. This house was built shortly before the turn of the century, probably
for John Ruddy, a local policeman at a cost of $2000.”
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] [181 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.316
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 Ruddy House would contribute to a potential historic district that extends north of Northampton’s primary
corridor, Elm Street, encircling and encompassing the primary feature of that landscape, Round Hill. The potential
historic district is significant for its 19th century development from a few gentlemen’s farms to a neighborhood dense
with the homes of its most prominent residents and educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton
for several hundred years to the present.
Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and
Queen Anne style houses, the Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival styles of the 20th century that were often architect-
designed by the region’s most well-known designers. The Ruddy House is a good example of the Queen Anne style.
This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.