259 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: PVPC
Date (month / year): February, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31A-011-001 Easthampton NTH.2451
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 259 Elm Street
Historic Name: Autumn Inn
Uses: Present: hotel/motel
Original: hotel/motel
Date of Construction: 1967-68
Source: Assessors records, street directories
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete
Wall/Trim: brick
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Rooms added in 1967 and 1969.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.802 acres
Setting: This hotel/motel is on Northampton’s main
thoroughfare and was built in alignment with its
predecessors on the street. There is a circular drive
through the property.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [259 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2451
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is within a local historic district.
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 Autumn Inn is a combination hotel and motel. It is Colonial Revival in style and composed of a three-and-a-half story brick
main building with a one-and-a-half story ell on the north and a brick dependency of two stories on the east connected to the
main building by a porte-cochere. All three sections of the building have Colonial Revival style gambrel roofs. The main block
has a center chimney on its asphalt shingle roof and is five bays wide and three bays deep. The use of traditional residential
fenestration applied to a three-and-a-half story building is an effort to keep the building in scale with its residential context.
Neighboring houses are generally two-and-a-half stories in height, but there are several towers that increase their overall scale
appearance. Windows on the first floor of the main block have 6/6 applied muntin sash and second floor windows that are
smaller and placed close to the eaves also have 6/6 sash. The center entry to the main block aims to reflect the Connecticut
River valley doors of the 18th century. The entry has six-panel, double-leaf doors beneath an eight-light transom. The entry
surround is trabeated with fluted pilasters supporting an entablature with a semi-circular pediment.
A porte-cochere extends from the north east corner of the main block about 20 feet to connect to a one-and-a-half story brick
building two bays wide and two bays deep. On the north elevation of the main building is a one-and-a-half story ell that acts as a
motel. It is a two-pile ell with its roof extending on both east and west sides to create a full-length porch on square posts. Each
unit of the motel has a door and window for a 15-bay length on each elevation. Centered on the ell roof is a shed roof dormer
containing 6 windows and at each side of the center dormer are four, front-gabled dormers. This pattern is found on both east
and west elevations. A wrought iron fence runs across the north side of the lot.
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.
The Autumn Inn was constructed in 1967-1968. A century earlier the land in Elm Street on which it is located belonged to J.
Clark, there being over 80 Clarks in Northampton at the time, farming, banking, teamstering. A house at 257 Elm Street owned
by Ellis B. Currier in 1920 was torn down in order to construct this hotel. It has served Smith College guests as well as others
visiting the city since its construction.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Trumbull, J. R. “Map of Original 17th c. Homelots”, compiled 1898 for History of Northampton, Massachusetts from its Settlement
in 1654, vol. I, Northampton, 1898.
Hales, John G. surveyor. Plan of Town of Northampton, 1831, Boston.
Walling, Henry F. Atlas of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York 1860.
Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, 1873.
Walker, George H. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884.
Miller, D. L. Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895.
Northampton Street Directories, 1950-1960.