Elm Street (4)
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
31D-007 Easthampton NTH.2449
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: Elm Street
Historic Name: Brown Fine Arts Complex
Uses: Present: museum, art department, art library
Original: museum, art department, art library
Date of Construction: 1972 and 2003
Source: Smith College Records
Style/Form: Contemporary
Architect/Builder: John Andrews architect, 1972; Polshek
Partnership, architects, 2003 Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete
Wall/Trim: brick, glass, steel
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): 1972 building taken down
to structure for new exterior and interior 2003
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage:
Setting: The Brown Fine Arts Center is located on the
north east edge of the college campus facing Elm Street on
the north and the campus center on its south. It is on a
raised lot above Elm Street behind an embankment.
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.2449
___ 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 Brown Fine Arts Center is a two-story building with an irregular and complex plan and elevation. Its elevation is composed
of planes that recede, are transparent, float, and advance in space. They are brick, glass, and steel in material; the building has
concrete foundations and a flat roof whose material is not visible. The plan of the building follows the curve of its lot on Elm
Street from east to west in a succession of planes ending in a long north façade parallel to Elm Street. This building was
designed in a style that offers considerable visual interest as light passes over and through its components at various locations
in space, yet its only ornament is the variety of textures that its materials offer. The choice of its brick walls was a contextual
choice reflecting the brick buildings surrounding it on the Smith Campus, and its height does not compete with 19th century
College Hall to its east. But the use of light and transparency is a 21st century strategy that draws people into the building and its
first floor museum gallery, while insuring that the building’s interior is dominated by light-filled space where appropriate.
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.
Smith College established an art department, library and museum in College Hall in 1875, at the time of its founding, reflecting
the importance of the arts in the Smith College education. The three art resources remained in College Hall for over five ye ars
but as the Hall also contained administrative offices, larger space was needed and the three art resources were moved into
Hillyer Hall when it was built in 1881. Meanwhile, the college continued to build its museum collection through purchase and
donation until by 1926 a new gallery was needed to display its works in shows and as permanent collection. One of Smith’s fine
arts professors, Dwight William Tryon, and his wife Alice Belden Tryon donated money in 1926 for a new gallery and the Tryon
Art Gallery was built. It acted as the College’s art gallery until 1972 when a new fine arts complex was completed and once
again the museum, the art department and the art library were all held in the same building. The 1972 fine arts complex was
designed by Toronto architect John Andrews who was known for his work with college buildings in the United States. A building
in the a style akin to the Brutalist style, the complex served the College for about thirty years, but flaws in construction materials
led to water damage to the building, a not uncommon issue at the time. So in 2000 Smith selected Polshek Partnership
Architects of New York to rehabilitate the building. The architects’ rehabilitation – the current building - was an almost complete
reconstruction, as the walls and floors were taken down to the building’s steel structure and concrete foundations, and rebuilt.
The building was reconstructed with a new floor of art galleries, new storage areas, improved classrooms, faculty offices, an
imaging center, improved access and student gallery. Its cost was $35,000,000. In 2002 the Department of Art and the library
opened, and in April of 2003 the museum opened. The complex was re-named the Brown Fine Arts Center.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Smith College website.
Polshek Partnership website.