90 Elm Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
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: PVPC
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31B-249 Easthampton NTH.2450
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 90 Elm Street
Historic Name: Smith College Campus Center
Uses: Present: campus center
Original: campus center
Date of Construction: 2003
Source: Smith College website
Style/Form: Contemporary
Architect/Builder: Weiss/Manfredi Architects, New York
Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete
Wall/Trim: wood, glass, steel
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage:
Setting: The campus center faces north on to Elm Street,
but its principal façade is oriented to the south and the
Smith College campus landscape.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [Elm Street ]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2450
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is within a local historic district.
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 Smith campus center is a two story building with a complex plan and elevation. The campus center is described by its
architects as consisting of three buildings linked on the interior by bridges and by a two-story high curving central corridor that
allows passage from Elm Street on the north to the campus grounds on the south. The building’s exterior walls are wood with
narrow strips laid to resemble board-and-batten siding, alternating with glass and steel walls. On the wooden walls the batten-
like strips are spaced irregularly so that they accentuate the curves of the building; the glass and steel sections are placed to
offer brief views from the outside of activity on the interior and from the interior they offer views into the college landscape. The
height of the building of two stories maintains the height of its neighbors and the irregular elevations aim to break the building
down visually into residential-sized components to match its Elm Street neighbors. The board-and-batten-like siding appers to
have been chosen to fit in with the building’s Stick Style neighbors. This building with its expanses of glass is a stylistic 21st
century expression of the architectural principle developed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which blurred distinctions between interior and
exterior spaces.
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.
When Smith College was established in 1875 its students lived in private homes near campus and it wasn’t until 1936 when the
Quad dorms were completed that all students had campus housing. Throughout this period, their common spaces were the
classrooms, library, auditorium, the living rooms of their houses, coffee shops and campus grounds. Dispersed meeting spaces
were a common feature of schools during much of the19th century until after World War II when “campus commons” and
“student unions” began appearing among school buildings to provide safe social spaces for students of diverse ages and
interests to meet. The growing participation post-war of students in the political life of the schools called for larger meeting
places as well.
Changing notions of education in the second half of the 20th century included fostering leadership and community involvement,
which led in many schools to providing opportunities on campus for students to expand their extra-curricular interests, and this
campus center is a reflection of the expansion of those educational opportunities on the Smith campus. The campus center
simultaneously reflects the College’s concern to create and maintain a community among its large number of students, a task
that was easier when the student population was smaller. To both those ends, the building provides formal and informal meeting
spaces, recreational spaces, workspaces for student organizations, performance spaces, a bookstore, a café, mailboxes, art
studios and exhibit spaces.
In order to provide the campus center the college moved a building on this lot to a new location. Wesley House, built in 189 9,
was moved in 2002 to the south of Haven House, freeing up space for the center.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES