309 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-4 Easthampton NTH.449
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 309 Elm Street
Historic Name: C. H. Clark House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1869-1873
Source: Registry of Deeds, 264.296, Beer’s 1873
Atlas Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.444 acres
Setting: Set on a corner lot, this house is oriented to
Massasoit Street by its walkway and entry.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [309 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.449
___ 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 C. H. Clark House is an Italianate style house that has been so well-maintained that it has retained its decorative features
as many of its contemporaries have not. It is an L-plan house with a front-gabled roof and a cross-gable wing. The overhanging
eaves of the slate-covered roof are supported on brackets with trefoil cut-outs. There is a wide frieze beneath the eaves. In the
angle between the two sections of the house is a one-story, rounded-corner porch on chamfered posts with scroll-cut brackets at
its eaves and respondent pilasters on the façade. Solid brackets support the porch’s broad eaves overhang. Whereas an Elm
Street entry was previously furnished by a south porch door, the porch has been opened and the main entry to the house is now
facing Massasoit Street. Giving the house additional variety is a three-sided bay window on the south façade as well and a bay
window on the east elevation. Both have wide Italianate eaves with brackets. Windows in the house have mainly 2/2 sash and
their lintels are pedimented and bracket-supported as well. Several windows are paired in the Italianate fashion. The main entry
has a pedimented surround.
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 1975: “This cottage in the bracketed style was built at the corner of Elm and Massasoit Streets between 1869
and 1873 and stands on a lot carved from a large parcel owned by H. G. Maynard. Maynard filed the plan for 30 lots on Elm and
Massasoit Streets in1869 and in that same year sold lot #1 to C. H. Clark. (The adjoining property was sold A. H. Lyman in
1869; Lyman erected a cottage designed by W. F. Pratt on the property in 1870.) Upper Elm Street was a prestigious residential
area—J. H. had built two modest mansions on the street in 1861 and 1866—and Maynard sold the unimproved lots for $1000.”
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, 264.296