1 Florence Street (formerly Grove Hill)
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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
10B-93 Easthampton NTH.22
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 1 Florence Street (formerly Grove Hill)
Historic Name: Lucius Dimock Estate
Uses: Present: Seven unit residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1879-1880
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, July 3, 1946
Style/Form: High Victorian Gothic
Architect/Builder: Eugene C. Gardner, Architect,
Springfield Exterior Material:
Foundation: stone
Wall/Trim: brick, wood, granite, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 3.372 acres
Setting: This building is set on a promontory overlooking
Leeds Center.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [1 Florence Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.22
__ _ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is on the National Register.
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 a two-and-a-half story brick house with a front-gable roof that has a hipped cross-gable on its north elevation, a four-story
corner tower in the angle between the two sections, and a one-and-a-half story ell on the east elevation for a complex plan. It is
High Victorian Gothic in style, being a late version of Gothic Revival (1865-1880) that emphasized polychromy through tarred
brick stringcourses contrasted with brick of a different color – in this case yellow brick – and ornamental brickwork patterns
worked into the overall elevations. In addition, the building has the visually complex frame ornament in its gable end with
strapwork, shingles and flushboard. Chimneys make their way through roofs, eaves, and across dormers and are equally
ornamented as the three porches of the first story. The porches of the west and south have posts with globes turned in their
profiles mid-way, while the two porches on the north under shed roofs have posts, brackets at the eaves and ornamental
spandrels. Wide eaves overhangs have ornamental brackets on the main roofs as well as those of the porches and tower. This
is a rare survival of a High Victorian Gothic house in western Massachusetts.
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 1975: “This brick residence was designed in 1879 by Springfield architect E.C. Gardner for Lucius Dimock,
director of the Corticelli Silk Company. A native of Ashfield, Gardner (1836-1915) began to practice architecture in Florence at
the age of 22. Possibly instructed by W. F. Pratt, Gardner settled in Springfield following the Civil War and maintained a practice
there until 1911. In 1889, he formed a partnership with son George C. Gardner and George Pyne. Although Gardner designed
numerous commercial buildings in Northampton and Florence prior to his removal to Springfield, the Dimock house and one Elm
Street residence, also brick and designed in 1879, are the only residential designs yet identified in the city.
The estate was one considerable: in addition to the Victorian residence, a greenhouse, barns and stables, and many
fine trees graced the hill.
The Dimock house was built on the site of the earlier Benjamin North homestead. The North homestead was moved
100 yards northerly in 1879. At that time, E. C. Gardner was commissioned to design the Dimock residence and the silk
company factor building on Main Street, now Leeds Village apartments.”
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.