275 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-10 Easthampton NTH.454
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 275 Elm Street
Historic Name: Mather House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1882
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, 8/29/1882
Style/Form: High Victorian Gothic/Jacobean Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone, shingles
Roof: slate, copper
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.939 acres
Setting: This house is set back from the street behind a
wrought iron fence with gate posts at its drive. It has a
specimen maple tree in its front yard.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [275 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.454
___ 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.
This is one of the most fanciful of the High Victorian Gothic houses in Northampton and is exceedingly-well maintained. It is a
brick, two-and-a-half story house with a hipped roof from which projects a three-story cross gable with a Jacobean parapet roof
and a polygonal tower under a slate roof. In the angle of the tower and the cross-gable is a hipped roof porch with a shingled
pediment entry. A rounded bay is located at the northeast corner of the main block of the house. There is a two-story ell and
open porch on the rear. The house is decorated with brownstone in a beltcourse, a frieze beneath the eaves, and at the window
lintels. It has two tall interior chimneys. With its studied asymmetry, varied forms and exterior materials, this building f inely
exemplifies its style.
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 large and well built brick residence was erected in 1882 for John L. Mather, a local mason and
contractor. Mather had various commissions to build foundations for public buildings and in 1880, did the stonework on the
Williston mansion on Round Hill.”
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.