51 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-130 Easthampton NTH.502
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 51 Forbes Avenue
Historic Name: Joseph Fowler House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1887-95
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas
Style/Form: Stick Style/Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Shed
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.191 acres
Setting: This house is located on a quiet residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [51 FORBES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.502
_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 house first owned by Joseph Fowler is Stick Style with a few Queen Anne features. It is a two-and-a-half story house with a
side-gable roof on which is a front cross-gable for an L-shaped plan. The exterior of the house is set off with stringcourses,
beltcourses and cornerboards that suggest the framing members of the building’s structure – a Stick Style feature. The front
gable is ornamented with a lattice-filled King Post truss, which was favored by the Stick Style and below it is a quatrefoil window,
with a variant, a pointed window in the gable of the main block. The porch is Queen Anne in style with its turned posts, turned
baluster railings, and spindle frieze.
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 ad J.A. Sullivan.
Development was slow with only four houses being constructed by 1895. This was one of those four and is described as
belonging to Joseph Fowler. Mr. Fowler, however, did not live here, residing instead on King Street.”
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 Count y, 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 ] [51 FORBES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.502
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, Stick Style, 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.