Elm Street (3)
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: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31D-102 Easthampton NTH.764
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: Elm Street
Historic Name: Stoddard hall
Uses: Present: Smith College offices and auditorium
Original: College Chemistry Hall
Date of Construction: 1898-1899
Source: Smith College Archives
Style/Form: High Victorian Gothic
Architect/Builder: Hert & Tallant, architects, New
York; 1919 expansion by Taylor & Putnam, architects, Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone, wood, terra cotta
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
West addition, 1919. Added entry on east elevation, ca.
2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.02 acres
Setting: This college building is part of the Smith College
campus that lines both sides of Elm Street.
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.764
___ 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.
Stoddard Hall is a late form of the High Victorian Gothic style, but whereas the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption next door
and the Smith College Hall across the street were High Victorian Gothic based on Italian Gothic architecture, Stoddard Hall is
based on German Gothic. It is a three-story brick and brownstone building with a front-gable parapet roof derived from German
Gothic architecture. The building has transverse roof gables on east and west elevations. The south elevation is three bays
wide in a fenestration pattern of 1-4-1 on the first floor, five evenly spaced bays on the second floor, and 1-4-1 fenestration on
the third floor. Stringcourses of brownstone separate the stories and between the second and third stories there is also a terra
cotta panel with “CHEMISTRY” in Gothic script in relief. The panel has on the left an engaged statue of a male figure labeled
“Metallurgy” standing on a console carved with small scholars and related figures. On the right is a hooded figure on a console
whose label is “Alchemy”. The main entry to the building is on the east façade where a slate-covered hood on carved braces
shelters the wood and glass doors with medieval-inspired metalwork. Above the entry are two-story stair windows with angled
lights. Windows in the building have flat lintels and three-point arches and when paired, have brownstone label lintels.
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 the Form B of 1976, “Stoddard Hall was built in 1899 on land owned by Smith College across Elm Street. Stoddard Hall
was named for John Tappan Stoddard, professor of physics at the College from 1878 to 1880, and was the gift of the class of
1895. The construction of the Chemistry building represented the school’s continually increasing commitment to education in
the sciences.”
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.