229 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
31A-14 Easthampton NTH.456
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 229 Elm Street
Historic Name: Pratt House
Uses: Present: apartments
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: 1895
Source: Registry of Deeds, 1895 Atlas of
Northampton Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: William F. Pratt, Jr., architect,
Northampton Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.381 acres
Setting: This house is located on a major thoroughfare
through Northampton and is one of a number of high style
Queen Anne houses.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [229 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.456
___ 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 Pratt House is a unique Queen Anne style house in Northampton. It is two-and-a-half stories high, and like most of its
Queen Anne style neighbors, it has a hipped roof from which cross-gables project to give the house a complicated plan and
elevation. There us a cross-gable at the southwest corner, a polygonal tower of three stories at the southeast corner and a
cross-gable at the northeast corner. On the north façade a two-story porch under a shed roof is located between the cross-
gable and tower. It is on turned posts with brackets on the first story and arched braces on the second story. The porch has a
turned baluster railing with jigsaw cut ornament. The first floor of the house has clapboard siding and the second is shingle-
sided. The gables are ornamented with scalloped shingles to add more variety to the exterior. The southwest cross gable has a
jetty or overhang between the attic and the second floor and again between first and second floors. Consoles support the
chamfered bay. Centered on the slate roof is a hipped dormer. Sash in the house is largely 1/1.
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 1976: “This residence in the Queen Anne style was built on Elm Street c.1895 for the Pratt family. It is probable
that William F. Pratt, Jr., son of W illiam Fenno Pratt and grandson of Thomas Pratt was responsible for its design. Pratt sold the
‘lot of land fronting on Elm’ to Jennie C. Pratt in 1895; the house appears on the 1895 atlas of the city. W.F. Pratt, Jr. entered
the architectural profession in Northampton about 1880, joining his father. The younger Pratt was not highly successful and was
never an important figure in the Northampton building community.”
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, Hampshire County, 477.183, 431.309