76 Franklin Street
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
24C-142 Easthampton NTH.307
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 76 Franklin Street
Historic Name: William E. Pittsinger House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1870-1873
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder: William Pittsinger, Builder, attributed
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: flushboard
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.286 acres
Setting: This house is east-facing and is located
on a raised, corner lot.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [76 FRANKLIN ST]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH. 307
_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.
This is a unique house in Northampton being a flushboard-sided, Italianate style house, two stories in height with a north wing of
two stories that is also flushboard-sided. The house has a flat roof, wide eaves overhangs, and a through-cornice chimney on
the south elevation. It is five bays wide and four bays deep and the center entry has a hooded lintel on consoles. Windows
have shed roof lintels on brackets. Sash in the main block is 6/6 and in the wing it is 1/1. There is one grille at the attic level.
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: “In 1870, William Pittsinger bought 1/3 of an acre on Wachusett St. (an early name for Franklin Street,
changed by 1873) for $300. Mr. Pittsinger was a carpenter and probably built this house himself. It first appears on the 1873
atlas.”
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. 428-P. 268, 275-399
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [76 FRANKLIN ST]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH. 307
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.
The Pittsinger House would contribute to a potential historic district that extends north of Northampton’s primary
corridor, Elm Street, encircling and encompassing the primary feature of that landscape, Round Hill. The potential
historic district is significant for its 19th century development from a few gentlemen’s farms to a neighborhood dense
with the homes of its most prominent residents and educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton
for several hundred years to the present.
Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and
Queen Anne style houses, the Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival styles of the 20th century that were often architect-
designed by the region’s most well-known designers. The Pittsinger House is a fine example of the Italianate style.
This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.