134 Elm Street
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1FORM 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-245 Easthampton NTH.701
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 134 Elm Street
Historic Name: W. T. Clement House
Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1880
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette August 21,
1880. Style/Form: French Second Empire
Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt, architect,
Northampton Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick, limestone
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.445 acres
Setting: This building is set on a corner lot north of
Paradise Pond.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [134 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.701
___ 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 W. T. Clement House consists of a brick, two-and-a-half story building that is L-shaped in plan and French Second Empire
in style under its moderate mansard roof (moderate as its second pitch is very shallow). Typical of the French Second Empire is
the use of features from the Italianate style found here: the bracketed eaves, arcaded porch on chamfered posts and high
pedestals. The asymmetrical house has elaborate through-cornice brick dormers with parapet roofs as well as pedimented
dormers on the lower slope of the roof. The building’s surface is treated with picturesque details such as ornamental brickwork
on the through-cornice chimney, stringcourses of angled brick alternating with tarred brick, and varied contrasting window lintels
– straight limestone on the first floor and pedimented limestone on the second floor. In the angle between the two sections of
the house is a stacked porch. The porch is partially enclosed in brick on the first story to accommodate an arched entry. It has
an open section that rests on chamfered posts on paneled pedestals. A second story section is set above the enclosed portion
of the porch. It is more ornate with paired posts beneath heavily bracketed eaves. Attached to the east elevation of the Pierson
House is a three-story clapboard-sided dormitory wing. The wing has been designed to fit into the stylistic context of the house
with its bracketed eaves and stringcourse between stories.
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 the Form B of 1976, “One of W. F. Pratt’s last significant houses, this brick and stone residence was built in 1880 for W. T.
Clement. (Clement had owned and built at least one other residence on Elm Street.)…W. T. Clement sold his new residence
one year after its construction and the second owner, B. S. Lyman, proceeded to gut the interior of the brick structure and
redesign the floor plan.”
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.