46 Finn 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
24D-176 Easthampton NTH.334
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 46 Finn Street
Historic Name: Varnum Tanner House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1852-1854
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Sided ca. 1990
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.209 acres
Setting: House sits on a corner lot on a busy street of a
residential area.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [46 FINN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.334
___ 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.
The Gothic Revival style was popular in Northampton and appeared in both brick and frame examples. This is a one-and-a-half
story frame version with a steeply-pitched front-gable roof with shallow cross-gables on both east and west. The house has a
one-story rear ell on the south. Vinyl siding now covers all but one section of the house, the first floor of the north façade that has
retained its board-and-batten Gothic Revival siding. There, as well, are the Gothic full-length first floor windows. Windows and
the side-hall entry have label lintel surrounds, thought they have been mostly covered by added shutters. In the cross-gables
and the front-gable are pointed Gothic windows and elsewhere on the main block of the house windows are narrow and paired
as was typical of the style.
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: “Spring Street (originally called Hawley Lane) was laid out in the first third of the 19th century as the upper
connector between King Street and Prospect Street. In 1852 and 1854, Joseph Haskins, a Prospect Street resident, sold land to
Varnum Tanner for a combined total of $383. In October of 1854, Mr. Tanner sold this land to Hatfil Washburn, Jr. of
Williamsburg for $1350. The deed mentions the grantor’s ‘new Cottage house thereon standing.’ This would seem to be the
same house as the present one.”
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.
Registry of Deeds: Bk. 447-P. 429, 414-407 and 403, 410-311, 157-114 and 116, 145-224