109 Elm Street
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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
31B-198 Easthampton NTH.675
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 109 Elm Street
Historic Name: Jonathan Hunt or Sessions House
Uses: Present: Smith College Dormitory
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: c. 1700
Source: Smith College records
Style/Form: Georgian
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: stone, brick, concrete
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: wood shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Ells added, east porch added, post-1921.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.173 acres
Setting: Building faces south on Elm Street in a
neighborhood of residences converted to college use.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [109 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.675
___ 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.
Sessions House dormitory consists of the Hunt House, a Georgian style building, and a Colonial Revival style ell that extends to
the north of the house creating a long, rectangular plan. The Hunt House is a two-and-a-half story Georgian house - one of the
best examples of the style in Northampton - with a gambrel roof and a large, clustered, center chimney. Its wood shingle roof is
the material it would originally have had when constructed ca. 1700. The house is five bays wide and three bays deep and first
floor windows have bold pedimented lintels, characteristic of the Georgian style. Second floor windows are set closely to the
eaves, and in the gable ends they also have pedimented lintels. Typical of early construction, there is a jetty in the gable ends.
The center entry to the house has a hipped portico on columns and there is a 6-light transom over an eight panel door. Three
pedimented dormers are evenly spaced on the roof.
The added two-and-a-half story ell on the north was designed with a gambrel roof. It is five bays long and has shed roof
dormers across its roof. The east open porch on the Hunt House was probably added at the time the ell was added.
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 1970: “Built by Jonathan Hunt (c. 1700) who was the son of Deacon Jonathan, on the early settlers who came to
Northampton from Hartford, Connecticut, in the mid-17th century, this house passed to the builder’s son, John Hunt, in 1738 and
from this time various members of the Hunt Family occupied it for over 100 years. Jonathan Hunt’s daughter Mary married Seth
Pomeroy in 1732. After this, it passed on to the Henshaw (related by marriage) and Hopkins families, then to Sidney Bridgman,
the Northampton bookseller, and finally to Mrs. Ruth Huntington Sessions in 1900. Mrs. Sessions ran it as an off-campus house
for over 20 years for Smith College girls, and sold it to the college in 1921, since which date it has been called the Sessions
House and used as a college dormitory.
It has a secret stairway and passage which served as a hideout in Indian raids, and was considered very safe as the
house was, in the early days, far from the center of town.”
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.