156 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-240 Easthampton NTH.697
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 156 Elm Street
Historic Name: M. D. Ward House
Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory
Original: Single-family Residence
Date of Construction: c. 1880
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlases
Style/Form: French Second Empire
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Addition on south, ca. 1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.183 acres
Setting: House sits on a corner lot that slopes down to the
south.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [156 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.697
___ 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 M. D. Ward House is a French Second Empire house with a modest mansard roof. The two-and-a-half story building has a
transverse gable bay centered on its north façade and a porch that crosses the bay. In the two angles of the main block of the
house and the gable bay are one-story glass-enclosed rooms that may once have been porches. The center porch is a
prominent feature of the house as it has and oval shape and its flat roof rests on columns that sit on high paneled pedes tals.
Turned balusters form the railing with its rounded corners. The main block of the house is three bays wide and three bays deep
and windows have hooded lintels on brackets. Brackets are also paired at the roof eaves. On the west elevation is a tra nsverse
gambrel dormer flanked by two hipped roof dormers. There is a two-and-a-half story added ell on the south.
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 bound by the Mill River
that became known as ‘Paradise.’ Paradise Road was soon opened and lots sold for residential development. Mr. Ward had his
own house on this street, however, by 1885, he had died and his widow Margaret was making her residence in this house at the
corner of Paradise Road and Elm Street. It’s possible the house was built in 1881 when th Wards took a mortgage on this
property.
In 1896, this parcel was sold to St. John’s Episcopal Church to be used as a parsonage. Twenty years later, in 1916,
Smith College bought the property. It was first used in 1917 as a dormitory. The 1922 directory lists this as one of the Elm
Street Group, consisting of 146, 150, 156, and 164 Elm Street and Mrs. Ester E. Carman, head of the Group, resided here.
In 1936, this became the first Smith College co-operative house. At this time it was renamed Tenney House, in honor of
Mrs. Mary Smith Tenney. In 1895, she and her brother, Justin Smith, bequeathed to the College the house which formerly stoof
at the southeast corner of Bedford Terrace and Elm Street. When Alumae House was built at that site in 1936, the name was
transferred to 156 Elm Street.”
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. 723-P.165, 486-341, 478-335, 381-414, 363-414, 228-370 and 385, 214-74, 163-262