96 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-248 Easthampton NTH.705
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 96 Elm Street
Historic Name: Haven House
Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: c. 1865; 1902
Source: Smith College archives
Style/Form: Italianate and Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder: R. and S. Skinner, architects
(1902) Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard, flushboard
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Building extended ca. 1902.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.868 acres
Setting: Haven House sits beside the large student center
and is part of the Smith College campus.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [96 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH. 705
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
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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-story building under a hipped roof that is three bays wide and fourteen bays deep for a long, rectangular plan.
Stylistically, the house is a combination of Italianate and Colonial Revival styles. The earlier portion of the building, closer to the
street, is clapboard-sided on the first two stories and flushboard sided for the third story where molding-framed panels alternate
between windows. The house that Charles Kingsley built ca. 1865 was Italianate in style and that is the front section of the
house with its arched-panel cornerboards, second floor paired windows of 4/4 sash under pedimented lintels and the entry with
an architrave surround framing arched-panel pilasters and double leaf doors. The doors have multiple paned stained glass
lights and a stained glass transom above. It is likely that the third floor was added at the time that the building was extended ten
bays to become a dormitory. The third floor’s paneled bays between windows are an unusual Colonial Revival feature in the
region. One other example of this architectural feature exists in the nearby town of Williamsburg. The flushboard third story
continues on the extension that includes a recessed side porch in Colonial Revival style on the east elevation. The recessed
porch has four colossal Doric columns and respondent pilasters at the ends. The columns rest on paneled pedestals and there
are ornamental railings at each of the two stories. A balustrade tops the porch with urn ornaments at the third floor level. A
simpler porch crosses the north façade. It rests on posts that are linked by a sinuous arch that is both bracket and flange. On
the west elevation a three-sided bay window is located in the older section of the building while a square bay window, corner
porch, transverse gable bay and shed roof porch all add to the complexity of the extended section of the building on that
elevation.
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 1863, Charles Kingsley, a Main St. druggist acquired an acre of land. Soon thereafter he had his
large residence built on this site. After Kingsley’s death his son maintained this property until 1899 when he sold it to Smith
College in 1899. A few years later, in 1902, at a cost of $25,000 the homestead was remodeled and adapted for student living.
It was named by the College for Elizabeth Appleton Haven who had left the College a large bequest. Although not a resident of
Northampton, she had graduated from the College.”
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. 521-P.263, 418-19 and 125, 213-270, 163-225.