76 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-249 Easthampton NTH.347
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 76 Crescent Street
Historic Name: J. M. Miner House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1874-1875
Source: Registry of Deeds, 315.205, Gazette,
3/31/74, 6/23/74 Style/Form: French Second Empire
Architect/Builder: J.M. Miner
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: patterned slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.437 acre
Setting: This is an east-facing house on a raised
lot.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [76 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.347
_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 the largest and most elegant French Second Empire style house in Northampton. It is two-and-a-half stories in height
above an exposed basement on the east façade effectively raising it to three-and-a-half stories. It is a towered version of the
style with a four-story tower centered on its east façade, though the tower has a two-story pavilion attached to its east side and
at ground level is a barrel-vaulted entry portico for additional complexity. At each side of the tower-pavilion on the east façade
are arcaded porches at the first story level. They are supported on chamfered posts on pedestals and connected by railings with
fine balusters. There is an angled bay window on the south. The house is five bays wide and the equivalent of five bays deep
for a square plan. Dormers are set in the lower angle of the patterned, slate, mansard roof and they are framed by a mansard
roof in section. The roof eaves of the house and its tower are bracket-supported and windows have segmentally arched lintels
with brackets.
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 1976: “J.M. Miner (also spelled Minor) came to Northampton in 1869 from Cleveland and designed a number of
buildings in the downtown and residences off Elm Street prior to his departure in the mid-seventies. Unlike W. F. Pratt, who had
an established clientele, Minor often built on speculation, designing and erecting a dwelling and living there until a buyer was
found. This Mansard style on Crescent Street was designed in 1884 and sold to Lucien Dawson in that way.
Crescent Street was proposed as part of a plan of ‘Round Hill Estate,’ which included First, Second, and Third
Avenues—now Bancroft and Hillside Roads and Crescent Street, in 1873. The parcels were built on in the period 1880 to 1930.
The Miner House was one of the earliest dwellings. Built on lot #15, the house was sold to Dawson in December 1876.”
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, Hampshire County, 329.329, 315.205, 314.430
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [76 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.347
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 Miner 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 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 Miner House is a fine example of the French Second
Empire style and is exceptionally well-preserved. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship,
feeling, setting, design and materials.