30 Fairfield Avenue
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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
17C-176 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Florence
Address: 30 Fairfield Avenue
Historic Name: Herbert Freeman House
Uses: Present: Single-family dwelling
Original: Single-family dwelling
Date of Construction: ca. 1915
Source: atlas and directories
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: slate and asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Vinyl siding applied, ca. 2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.257 acres
Setting: This house is on the west side of a dead
end street. On its north side is a rail trail.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [30 Fairfield Avenue]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.
___ 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.
This is one of two, originally identical houses on Fairfield Street, and it retains more of the original material than its neighbor at
#26. The Herbert Freeman House is one-and-a-half stories under a front-gambrel roof. It has a cross-gambrel wing on the north
and an ell on the west for a T-shaped plan. The front-gambrel section is two bays wide with an angled bay adjacent to a large,
fixed-light window with muntins. Entr y to the house is in the wing and its surround is obscured by vinyl siding. There is a jetty
between first and second floors and at second floor level on the east façade a centered window with its original 6/1 sash has a
small fanlight window above it. This house and its neighbor are representative of the Colonial Revival style of the 1920s as it
was interpreted for contemporary family life. Both houses also represent the typical design of a house built on speculation using
commonly available plans.
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: ”Around the turn of the century, three streets were laid out north of Main and Locust Streets in Florence:
Plymouth, Fairfield and Summer Avenues. The streets extend northerly only a short distance to the railroad tracks. These two
houses [#s 26 and 30] are the northernmost on the western side of Fairfield Avenue, and are virtually identical. The 1915
Directory lists Edward Murphy, foreman of the foundry at the Norwood Engineering Co. and proprietor of Northampton Iron
Works, both in Florence, and Herbert Freeman, superintendent of the braiding department at Nonotuck Silk Co., as living in
these two houses.”
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.