253 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
31A-46 Easthampton NTH.471
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 253 Crescent Street
Historic Name: Herbert Graves House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1895-1915
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Craftsman Bungalow
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: fieldstone
Wall/Trim: shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.16 acre
Setting: This house faces east on a quiet,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [253 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.471
_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 Herbert Graves House is a fine example of a Craftsman bungalow. It is a shingled, one-and-a-half story house with
fieldstone foundations and fieldstone end wall chimneys that project through the eaves in the gable ends of the side-gable roof.
The roof extends across the east façade of the house to rest on fieldstone corner piers and it has Craftsman exposed rafter ends
at its eaves. There is a low-pitched shed roof dormer centered on the roof. The house is three bays wide with a center entry
and flanking windows with double-hung sash. The house is the equivalent of four bays deep and at each elevation on north and
south is a one-story, angled bay window with a shingle-covered convex roof. Windows in the bay have diamond pane transoms
that repeat the diamond pane lights of the dormer windows. There is a projecting enclosed secondary entry on north and south
elevations.
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: “This house was built for Herbert Graves, an insurance agent and treasurer of the Northampton Co-
operative Bank in 1912 at a cost of $4500. Crescent Street had been laid out in 1886, but the section south of Bancroft Road
wasn’t developed until the early 20th century.”
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] [253 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.471
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 Graves 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 Graves House is a good example of the Craftsman
Bungalow style. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.