84 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-250 Easthampton NTH.706
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 84 Elm Street
Historic Name: Elizabeth Drew House
Uses: Present: Smith College Career Development Office
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1750
Source: Deeds
Style/Form: Georgian
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: stone
Wall/Trim: brick, clapboard
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Ell added, dormers added ca. 2000; access ramp added ca.
2005.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.25 acres
Setting: This building is set on the Smith College campus
facing north on to Elm Street in a neighborhood of large
institutional buildings and smaller residential buildings
converted to institutional use.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [84 ELM STREET ]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.706
___ 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 Northampton’s fine Georgian style residences. It is a brick building, two-and-a-half stories in height under a side-
gable roof. The brick was laid with slightly projecting beltcourse and gable end frames and there are three interior chimneys in
the main block of the house. The eaves in the gable ends, typical of many Georgian houses, are clipped. There is a row of
dentils beneath the front eaves. The house is five bays wide and three bays deep and on its south elevation is a two-and-a-half
story clapboard-sided ell. The ell has a corner porch on turned posts with brackets at its eaves on the east elevation. Three
dormers have been added to the north side of the roof. Sash is 6/6 in windows that have architrave surrounds. The main entry
has a simple surround unlike most Georgian houses, suggesting that it has lost its original 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 1977: “The Smith College Archives give firmly documented facts concerning this house, but from references it
would seem to have been built in the late 18th century by a William Lyman and occupied by that family for some years. In the
1850’s it was the ‘parsonage’ (or manse) for Dr. Gordon Hall, a local pastor, and in the 1880’s was used as a residence hall b y
Smith College and called Tucker House because of the woman who ran it. Later it became a public inn, used largely by visitors
to the college; and in still later years and up to the 1960’s was called the Brass Knocker and managed by Miss Edith Parker. In
1967 it was purchased by Smith College as a residence for graduate students and named the Elizabeth Drew House in honor of
Miss Drew, a visiting lecturer at Smith for over twenty years, until her retirement and death.”
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.
Register of Deeds, Books: 57/158 1827; 80/574 1837; 104/62 1844; 123/221 1848; 170/313 1857; 186/19 1857; 393/33 1885;
477/3 1895; 1418/343 1960