11-13 Graves Avenue
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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
32A-90 Easthampton NTH.2045
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 11-13 Graves Avenue
Historic Name: Napoleon Petit House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Two-family house
Date of Construction: 1887
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas & SDR
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.135 acres
Setting: This is a north-facing house on a dead
end, residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [11-13 GRAVES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2045
___ 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 house is based on a Queen Anne style plan and elevation that appears more than once in Northampton and on Graves
Avenue it is also found at #34-36. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a side-gable roof and has two cross-gable bays
projecting from the façade. Between the two bays is a porch, in this case of one-story, with a shed roof, turned posts and
jigsaw-cut railing. It shelters two, side-by-side doors. The exterior of the house has been well-preserved with bands of scalloped
shingles separating the stories. Scalloped shingles are also in the gables of the house. A single, front-gable dormer is centered
over the front 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: “In 1884, a subdivision plan was filed for Graves Avenue. Lots were sold for residential development, and
in 1886 Napoleon Petit bought lot no. 4 for $900. The next year, he had his double house built at a cost of $3200. Mr. Petit may
have been the builder himself, but the property was foreclosed on soon afterwards and sold in 1893 to George Dragon, a barber.
This is the first of three double houses in a row on this side of Graves Avenue.”
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. 457-P. 91, 403-14