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20 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-146 Easthampton NTH.504 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 20 Forbes Avenue Historic Name: James W. O’Brien House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1895-1900 Source: Atlas & Directory Style/Form: Queen Anne/Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles Roof: asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): First story porch enclosed, ca. 1990 Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.176 acres Setting: House is in alignment with its neighbors on quiet residential street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [20 FORBES AVE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.504 __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. The O’Brien House combines elements of both the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles from the turn-of-the century. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gable roof whose eaves make full returns to create a pent roof. A cross gable on the south projects as a polygonal bay that is paneled between stories. On the west façade at the first story a porch has been enclosed but a recessed porch at the second story has remained open and decorated with a rounded railing on which is a Queen Anne relief band of diamond shapes. In volume the house is Queen Anne following the principle of varied interior spaces that take the form of gables, porches, and cross-gable bays. The exterior ornament, however, has been simplified in the Colonial Revival style with siding almost exclusively in clapboards rather than the more visually complex use of shingles and clapboards. For Colonial Revival style ornament there is a Palladian window in the gable field, a Federal rondel window in the recessed porch, and a window lintel with festooning that crosses a triple window composition in the west façade. 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 prominent local developers J.C. Hammond and J.A. Sullivan. Development was slow and by 1895, there were only four houses constructed. This house was built in the latter part of the 1890’s for James O’Brien, a partner with Edward Barrett in a general insurance and real estate agency. Barrett and O’Brien a lso played an influential part in the turn-of-the-century development of Northampton.” 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 ] [20 FORBES AVE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.504 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.