584 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
23D-112 Easthampton NTH.257
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 584 Elm Street
Historic Name: Skinner-Warner House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: c. 1850
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: board and batten and vinyl
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): Ell added ca. 1900
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.412 acres
Setting: House occupies a wedge-shaped lot that
is screened from the street with vegetation.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [584 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.257
___ 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 one-and-a-half story, Gothic Revival style house with a front-gable roof that follows the principles of A. J. Downing in his
book, The Architecture of Country Houses first published in 1850. Its board and batten siding is visible on the first story, but
vinyl siding has been added to the second story, thereby obscuring much of its stylistic character. The steeply pitched roof has
barge boards at its eaves on the front gable. Dormers on east and west have pairs of pointed Gothic windows and barge boards
at their eaves. On the east the through-cornice dormer rests on a polygonal bay of arched windows. On the south side of the
house is a one-and-a-half story ell with a cross gable followed by a one-story ell. The cross gable is two bays wide and has
barge boards and paired second story windows.
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 1980: “In 1850, William Skinner bought a little more than a half acre of land at the intersection of the ‘road from
Paper Mill to Bensonville and the road from the courthouse to Bensonville’ for $6. This is the current junction of Federal, Elm,
and Nontuck Streets. The land was across Elm St. from the small shop that Enoch Jewett had established on Broughton
Meadow Brook c. 1830. Mr. Jewett had built a dam across the brook, to power his shop. In 1842, three members of the Utopian
community, Northampton Association of Education and Industry, withdrew from the community and purchased the Jewett
property and water privilege. A silk mill was erected on the site.
Mr. Skinner established his homestead on the lot he had purchased, and was probably connected with the mill across
the street. In 1859, he sold his property and moved to Williamsburg, where he had established a silk mill a few years earlier. A
small community, called Skinnerville, grew up around the mill. The Mill River flood of 1874 destroyed the mill and village, and
Mr. Skinner moved his business to Holyoke, where it expanded into one of the largest of its kind. Mr. Skinner’s Holyoke house,
Wistariahurst, is currently maintained as a museum.”
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: Bk 483-P 58, 188-270, 1165-122 & 123, 136-61 and 147