57 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
24D-244 Easthampton NTH.343
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 57 Crescent Street
Historic Name: John T. Stoddard House
Uses: Present: Five-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1891-1895
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl, wood shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added and windows replaced, ca. 1990
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.388 acre
Setting: This is a west-facing house that occupies a lot on
a ridge that slopes down to the east.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [57 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.343
__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 Stoddard House is a Colonial Revival style house whose proportions are grand although its plan and elevations are
relatively simple. It is two-and-a-half stories under a side gable roof with a cross-gabled pavilion on the front and a shed roof
dormer across the rear or east. There is a portico on the pavilion that is supported on posts and a recessed porch at the
northwest corner of the house that also rests on posts. The pavilion is three bays wide and a stair window spanning first and
second stories occupies the center bay flanked by small windows with 6/1 sash. The stair window is composed of Queen Anne
style multi-paned windows separated by paneling. Above the stair window at the attic level is a pedimented gable with a
centered Palladian window composition in its field. The pediment projects from the plane of the house and is supported on
shingled consoles. The house has vinyl siding on the first story and in the gables and has wood shingle siding on the second
floor.
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: “In 1891, John Stoddard, a professor of Chemistry at Smith College, purchased lots no. 4 and 5 of the
Round Hill Estate subdivision. The next year, he had a $10,000 ‘mansion’ constructed. It was houses like these that led to the
Gazette to call Crescent Street one of the most ‘aristocratic’ in the city in 1895. The street had been opened in 1886, and its
location on the middle slopes of Round Hill provided a sweeping vista of the Connecticut River Valley.”
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.
Registry of Deeds: Bk. 444-P. 181, 378-453
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [57 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.343
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 Stoddard 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 it 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 Stoddard House is a fine example of the Colonial Revival style and is exceptionally
well-preserved. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.