15 Forbes Avenue
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: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31A-122 Easthampton NTH.499
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 15 Forbes Avenue
Historic Name: Byron Towne House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1884-1895
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: shingles, clapboards
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.22 acres
Setting: This house sits on a wide lot that is lushly
landscaped with trees, shrubbery, streetside planting beds
and more.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [15 FORBES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.499
__x_ 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.
If 12 Forbes Street is representative of the high level of design and construction of the Queen Anne style in Northampton, th e
Byron Towne House at 15 Forbes Street is representative of the style at its most extravagant. It is a two-and-a-half story house
under a steeply pitched hipped roof with cross-gables on north and south and an ell on the west. Centered on the east façade of
the roof is a front-gabled dormer with an arched window. The dormer extends slightly on to the shed roof of a second story
porch stacked on a full width first story porch. The two levels of porch are highly decorated with inverted, turned columns on
high pedestals connected by railings with turned balusters. Just below the porch cornices are spindle friezes. The second story
porch additionally has in its roof spandrels a checkerboard ornament with stars in relief. The siding of the house alternates
between clapboards separated by shingle bands bordered with stringcourses. There is a one-story, shed roof bay on the south
and a south porch on the ell. On the north elevation is a three-sided bay with paneled bases at each story.
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: “Forbes Avenue was opened in 1887 by the prominent local developers J.C. Hammond and J.A. Sullivan.
Development was slow, and by 1895, there were only four houses constructed. The other eleven lots were built upon in the
early 20th century. In the 1920’s, the street was continued through to Washington Place, effectively doubling the length of the
street. The first owner of this house was Byron Towne, co-owner of a Main Street grocery, who was listed here in the 1895
directory.”
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. 427-P. 541
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [15 FORBES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.499
National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form
Check all that apply:
Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district
Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district
Criteria: A B C D
Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G
Statement of Significance by _____Bonnie Parsons___________________
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.
This property would contribute to a potential historic district that would encompass the residential/institutional side
streets laid out on the south side of Elm Street in Northampton Center between Main Street on the east and the west
boundary of Childs Park on the west. This potential historic district is significant according to criteria A and C and
would have local significance.
These residential streets are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of the development of
Northampton from the mid-19th century as a relatively affluent community that supported several private schools for
young women, which prepared them after 1875 for attendance at Smith College, and the Clarke School where deaf
students were given an education that thoroughly prepared them for the hearing world. The residences in this area
made a shift from gentlemen’s estates to accommodation of the growing middle class in Northampton during the 19th
century with businessmen, scholars, teachers, doctors, and retired farmers.
According to criterion C this district would be significant for the range of historical styles that it includes. Gothic
Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles are all well-represented within a
landscape of individual large lots, and streetscapes that were laid out and developed at one time.