58 Front Street
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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
11A-44 Easthampton NTH.39
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 58 Front Street
Historic Name: Edson Ross House
Uses: Present: Three-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1872-1873
Source: Atlas & Directory
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick, concrete block
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Rear ells added and porch enclosed, ca. 1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.583 acres
Setting: This house faces south on the crest of a
hill.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [58 FRONT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.39
___ 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 two-and-a-half story Italianate style house under a side-gable roof with a prominent front-gable bay centered on its
south façade. It is five bays wide and one bay deep and the front-gable bay has at its first story a rectangular bay window under
a shallow hipped roof. Originally the house had open porches at each side of the cross-gable bay, but the porch on the west has
been enclosed. The porch on the east remains partially open, supported on a single post. Windows in the house have
pedimented surrounds and there are Italianate paired brackets at the wide eaves. On the cross-gable windows have 2/2 sash
and at the second floor they have been paired, a practice common in the Italianate style. The windows of the rectangular bay
are nearly full-length, another Italianate style feature.
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: “Front Street was laid out in the early 19th century as a connector between Haydenville Road and the
recently settle village of Sheperd’s Hollow. The village acquired its name from the three Sheperds—James, Thomas, and
Charles—who owned and operated the two woolen mills. In 1831, the Northampton Woolen Manufacturing Co. acquired the mill
and attendant property and ran a successful business until 1857. The firm failed at that time and the business abandoned.
Nonotuck Silk Co. began operation on part of the site in 1859. They also acquired land on the upper slopes northeast of the
village at the same time.
E.S. Ross bought an 81 square rod lot on this street in 1872. By the next year his residence is shown on the County
Atlas. Mr. Ross is listed as a merchant of groceries and dry goods in the 1873-74 Directory, and is located near the Depot, in
what has always been the only commercial building in the village. The Post Office was also located here, and Mr. Ross was
appointed Postmaster in 1874. Around the turn of the century, it appears that Ross moved his business to his home at 58 Front
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 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. 298-109