150 Elm 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
31B-241 Easthampton NTH.698
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 150 Elm Street
Historic Name: James C. Ward House
Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory
Original: residence
Date of Construction: c. 1884
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas
Style/Form: Stick Style/Eastlake
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.161 acres
Setting: This house is in a row of similarly styled and
dated 19th c. houses.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [150 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.698
___ 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 James C. Ward House is a Stick Style house with Eastlake ornament. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a
truncated hipped roof that is slate covered. On the roof are two interior chimneys and three, front-gable dormers on the north
façade and single dormers on the east and west. The gables of the dormers have cross trusses with infill of Eastlake jigsaw cut
floral ornament. Eastlake ornament derives from the furniture designed by Charles Eastlake that used this type of ornament
incised and jigsaw cut and was transferred to architecture. Below the wide eaves of the roof is a frieze of vertical matchboard, a
Stick Style feature, with pairs of braces supporting the eaves. The clapboard-sided house is a simple three bays wide and three
bays deep, but proportions are large. On the north façade is a centered projecting one-story pavilion holding a paneled entry
door and covering it, a flat roof portico on chamfered posts with arches between the posts and bosses above the pedestals.
Sash in the windows is 2/2.
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 1980: “In 1865, James C. Ward purchased a large tract of land west of Elm Street and bounded by the Mill River
that became known as ‘Paradise.’ Paradise Road was soon opened and lots sold for residential development. Mr. Ward built his
own house on the street, however, by 1885, Mr. Ward had died and his widow Margaret was making her residence in the house
at 156 Elm Street on the corner of Paradise Road. The 1884 Atlas shows both of these houses owned by Mrs. M. Ward, and a
mortgage taken on this property in 1884 mentions the ‘new dwelling thereon.’
In 1890, this house and lot were sold to Emma Bonney, who in turn sold the property to Smith College in 1898. The
house seems to have been rented by Smith College to a series of persons, including Clara Allen, who ran a small shop on the
premises. In 1917, this house was first used as a dormitory for the College and was part of the Elm Street group, which included
numbers 146, 150, 156, and 164.”
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: Bk. 512-P.102, 432-215, 393-383, 388-481