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-193 Easthampton NTH.667
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: Elm Street
Historic Name: Helen Hills Chapel
Uses: Present: Smith College Chapel
Original: Smith College Chapel
Date of Construction: 1955
Source: Smith College archives
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder: William and Geoffrey Platt,
architects of NY Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt and slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.4 acres
Setting: Chapel is on a raised lot so that it towers over its
residential and institutional neighbors.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [123 ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.667
___ 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.
Helen Hills Chapel is a Colonial Revival version of a New England meetinghouse with a projected porch upheld by four colossal
Ionic columns. Three arched entries with double leaf paneled doors - traditionally used in Federal style churches to represent
the Trinity – beneath three fanlights open into the nave. Their surrounds are trabeated with narrow pilasters supporting the
arches with centered keystones. At the second floor level on the south façade are three square windows with 20/20 sash, footed
sills and architrave surrounds with keystones. The south façade is flushboard as is the pediment of the porch. A dummy fanlight
is centered in the tympanum of the porch pediment. Quoins appear at each corner of the church and its elevations are
clapboard-sided. The chapel has a three stage steeple with a tall base whose four sides each has a single oculus window,
followed by the second stage, an octagonal belfry on a balustraded base. The belfry openings are louvred and the angles are
marked by engaged Ionic columns. An octagonal spire on a base that alternates floral swags in relief with incised panels rises to
an urn finial and weathervane. The nave of the church is six bays long and there is a transverse gable at the northwest corner
for a secondary entry.
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: “Dedicated in 1955, the Smith College Chapel was given to the College by Helen Hills Hills, class of ’08.“
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.