47 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-221 Easthampton NTH.685
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 47 Elm Street
Historic Name: Gillett House
Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory
Original: Smith College dormitory
Date of Construction: 1911
Source: Smith College Archives
Style/Form: Georgian Revival
Architect/Builder: Charles A. Rich of New York
Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone, granite
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.47 acres
Setting: Set on a corner lot, this is one of a pair of
dormitories that make up a part of the Smith College
campus.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [47 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.685
___ 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 a three-and-a-half story dormitory building designed in the Georgian Revival style. It is one of a pair of identical, architect-
designed dormitories on this corner block. It is a red brick building under a truncated hipped roof of slate with transverse gable
bays at the southeast and southwest corners and on the west and east elevations. The building has deep eaves with oversized
brackets at the eaves and along the rake of the eaves. There is a row on the south side of the roof of four hipped-roof dormers.
The building’s corners have bricks laid as quoins, while brownstone watertable and belt course separate the stories in the
Georgian manner. The building has on its first floor windows of 9/6 sash; on the second and third floors are windows of 6/6
sash, and in the attic 8/8 sash. The windows have splayed lintels with center keystones. The entry to the building is on its west
façade where it is connected by an open arcade on columns to the entry to the neighboring dormitory at 49 Elm Street.
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 1977: “Gillett House was built by Charles A. Rich and opened in 1911. The house was named for Edward Bates
Gillett (1818-1899) who graduated from Amherst in 1839, and from Harvard Law School in 1841. He was a prominent lawyer, a
member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1852, a member of the State Board of Education from 1872-1878, and a trustee of
Amherst College. Sophia Smith appointed him in her will. He was one of the original trustees and vice president of Smith
College Board of Trustees from 1871 to 1899.
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.