25 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-127 Easthampton NTH.500
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 25 Forbes Avenue
Historic Name: Thomas Roe House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1895-1915
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: shingles, clapboards
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good/fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.188 acres
Setting: House occupies a corner lot on a quiet residential
street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [25 FORBES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.500
_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 Roe House is Colonial Revival in style, as style that generally reduced the number of gables and bays, spindles, balusters
and ornamental trim in an effort to return to the simplicity of colonial architecture. Like the majority of Colonial Revival style
houses in Northampton, it is two-and-a-half stories in height under a hipped roof. The roof eaves flare and have a wide
extension - an influence of the Prairie Style. While the Queen Anne style mixed shingles and clapboards on the exterior, the
Colonial Revival characteristically keeps the two materials strictly to the two stories separated by a narrow jetty, as is done here.
A wraparound porch takes advantage of the corner lot, and its hipped roof is supported by fluted piers supported on high
paneled pedestals. Entry to the porch is marked by a large pediment on top of which is a solid shingled railing that provides a
second story porch.
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 J.C. Hammond and J.A. Sullivan, two of Northampton’s most
prominent developers of the late 19th and early 20 centuries. Development was slow and by 1895, only four houses had been
constructed, with the other eleven lots being developed early in the 20th century. During the 1920’s, the street was extended
behind Vernon Street School and ended at Washington Place. The first known owner of this house was Thomas Roe. Mr. Roe
was listed here in the 1915 directory, and was described as the superintendent of the McCallum Hosiery Co. on West Street in
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 ] [25 FORBES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.500
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.