213-215 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-187 Easthampton NTH.320
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 213-215 Crescent Street
Historic Name: Reese Richards-Guy Emerson House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Two-family residence
Date of Construction: 1915-1922
Source: Atlas and Directory
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick, shingles
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.309 acre
Setting: This is an east-facing house on a quiet,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [213-215 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.320
__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 two-and-a-half story Colonial Revival style house that was designed in a plan and elevation common to single-family
Colonial Revival homes, but divided into two living units. It has a hipped roof with two interior chimneys and a centered, hipped
dormer with a band of 6/1 window sash. The roof has wide eaves overhangs supported on brackets. The house is brick on the
first story and wood shingles on the second story – a feature found during the later phase of the Colonial Revival style. The east
façade of the house has two center bays flanked at each side by angled bay windows. At the first story level, the center two
bays are occupied by entries to the two units. A full-width porch crosses the east façade. It is supported on four Doric columns
and its entry stairs are marked by a pediment on the porch roof. The house is four bays deep and there are rear porches 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 and quickly became on of the most fashionable streets to build upon
in Northampton. Development continued well into the 1920’s. This large double house was built around 1920.
In the 1922 directory, Reese Richards, a Main Street jeweler, and Guy Emerson, office manager for the Florence
Manufacturing Company are listed at this address.”
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] [213-215 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.320
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 Richards-Emerson 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 Richards-Emerson House is a fine example of the Colonial
Revival style. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.