Elm Street, Smith College Campus
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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-295 Easthampton NTH.719
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: Elm Street, Smith College Campus
Historic Name: Wesley House
Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory
Original: Parsonage for Methodist Church
Date of Construction: 1891
Source: Smith College archives
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Wings added, ca. 1930 and 2004.
Condition: good
Moved: no | | yes | x | Date 2004
Acreage: 0.292 acres
Setting: This building has been oriented towards the south
and to the inner campus.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [ELM STREET, SMITH CAMPUS]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.719
___ 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.
Wesley House is a south-facing, two-and-a-half story Queen Anne style building with a front-gable roof and a wing on its west
elevation. This building contributes to the numerous originally-residential buildings that now serve institutional purposes on the
Smith College campus, giving it a more intimate scale. It has a cross gable on its east elevation whose eaves make hipped
returns. The main block of the house is three bays wide and the equivalent of four bays deep and it has a two-story stacked
porch that crosses its south elevation. The porch has a metal covered shed roof that rests on posts with solid, quarter-circle
brackets at the eaves. The house has clapboards on its first story and shingles on the second and attic stories. The shingles
have mouse-tooth edges where they meet stringcourses. The one-and-a-half story wing has a side-gable roof with a full width
shed roof dormer three bays wide below a smaller dormer. Attached to the wing on its west elevation is a recent addition, a
glassed entry to the building. There is a secondary open porch on the west elevation of the wing as well.
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: “Opened by the College in 1898, Wesley House was named for the founder of the Methodist faith, in
deference to the building’s previous use as a parsonage for the adjacent Christ United Methodist Church. This house was
acquired, along with neighboring Haven House, by the College in 1898. The two buildings were then enlarged and converted
into student dwelling houses.”
This building was moved to its present location to make way for the Student Center, ca. 2004.
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