83 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-242 Easthampton NTH.341
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 83 Crescent Street
Historic Name: H.P. Dewey House
Uses: Present: Five-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1893
Source: Hampshire Gazette, 7/3/1893
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder: F.S. Neuman of Springfield
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick, parged brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.413 acre
Setting: This is a west-facing house that is set on
a ridge that slopes down to the east.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [83 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.341
__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 house with a hipped roof on which is a centered, pedimented pavilion on colossal
paired, fluted pilasters with composite capitals. There is a two-and-a-half story hipped wing on the north and an open porch of
one-story on the south, and a two-story ell on the rear. The main block of the house is three bays wide, a deceptive number, as
the proportions of the house are large. The main entry is in the pavilion beneath a portico on Doric columns. It is topped by a
balustrade. The entry itself has a glass and panel door beneath a transom light and flanked by leaded glass sidelights. At the
second story level is a Palladian window composition. In the angle between the main block and the wing is a secondary porch
on Doric columns. Sash in the house is 1/1.
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: “Springfield architect Frank S. Neuman provided the plans for this $12,000 house on Crescent Street. F.
S. Neuman arrived in Springfield 1883-1884 and was first listed in the city directory in 1883 as a carpenter. Churches,
residences, and theatres in Springfield were among his designs. Neuman left Springfield for a profitable career in Philadelphia
in the mid-nineties.”
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] [83 CRESCENT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.341
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 Dewey 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 Dewey House is a fine, architect designed example of the Colonial Revival style
and is well-preserved. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and
materials.