203 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-180 Easthampton NTH.318
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 203 Crescent Street
Historic Name: William O’Brien House
Uses: Present: Single-family house
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1884-1895
Source: atlases
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Porch filled in, sash replaced and one window
Filled in. Ell extended ca. 1900-2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.25 acres
Setting: This is an east-facing house on a tree-
shaded, residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [203 CRESCENT ST.]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.318
_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 one of three originally identical houses clustered near each other on Crescent Street. The others are numbers 199 and
207. The houses are two-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gabled roof and they have cross-gables on their north
elevations for L-shaped plans. They are only two bays wide and the equivalent of three bays deep. They have side-hall entries
adjacent to a single window on the east façade and have full-width porches on turned posts with brackets at their eaves. This
house has a two-and-a-half story rear ell and sash is mostly 1/1. One second story window on the east façade has been filled
in. The house is clapboard on the first and second stories and has a small wood shingle section in a wave pattern in the gable
field. The three houses are modestly Queen Anne and were probably built on speculation by a local builder.
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 the Form B of 1980, “Crescent Street was opened in 1886 along the middle slopes of Round Hill. The street almost
completely encircles the hill and provides fine vistas to the north and east. This is one of three virtually identical houses built on
the western side of the hill adjacent to each other. They all appear on the 1895 atlas, with this one being owned by William
O’Brien, a letter carrier. “
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 ] [203 CRESCENT ST.]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.318
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 O’Brien 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 O’Brien House is a modest example of the Queen Anne
style but it would contribute to the district as a whole. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship,
feeling, setting, design and materials.