137 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-167 Easthampton NTH.649
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 137 Elm Street
Historic Name: Charles P. Huntington House
Uses: Present: Three-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1841
Source: Professor Larkin
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
North wings added, ca. 1980.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.723 acres
Setting: This house sits on a raised lot with a view to the
south and the Smith College campus.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [137 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.649
___ 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 Huntington House is an Italianate style house that is modeled after a rural Italian villa as distinct from a city palazzo. It is U-
shaped in plan with projecting wings at each end of a hipped roof block. The center of the U is filled with an open arcaded porch
on paneled posts, three bays wide. The west wing has a full-length window on its first floor; the east wing has a three-sided bay
window. Windows are paired at the second floor, which is characteristic of the Italianate style. Both wings have low-pitched
hipped roofs that aim to emulate the flat roofs of Italian villas. Sash in the house is 1/1. On the north side of the house are one-
and two-story wings of more recent date.
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: “This Mediterranean-type villa was erected in 1841 by Hadley-born Charles P. Huntington on land bought
from Edward Clark. Huntington was later appointed justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court and moved to Boston. In
1856, Reverend William Silsbee, pastor of the Unitarian Church, purchased it. In 1864, the Merritt Clarks bought it and his
family lived in the house for 46 years until the death of Mary Clark (a niece of Merritt) in 1939. It was then for some years the
home of owners Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Grover until purchased by the Mary A. Burnham School in 1965. It is now owned and
occupied by the family of Richard Shea.”
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.