2-6 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-257 Easthampton NTH.2126
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 2-6 Graves Avenue
Historic Name: Avon and Henry Matthews Block
Uses: Present: Multiple Residence rowhouse
Original: Multiple Residence rowhouse
Date of Construction: 1890-1895
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas
Style/Form: Panel Brick
Architect/Builder: Avon and Henry Matthews,
Builders Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick, marble, terra cotta
Roof: slate and not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced, ca. 1990
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.078 acres
Setting: This is a south-facing building at the entry to a
dead-end residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [2-6 GRAVES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2126
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
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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 three-story brick rowhouse has a flat roof and was built on the urban rowhouse model found in major cities in
Massachusetts. It is nine bays wide and the equivalent of four bays deep. The south façade has three projecting pavilions of
two bays each and the two entries to the building are located between the pavilions under slate-covered, shed roof porches on
spindled braces. The doors are Craftsman style with glass and wood panels and are set in wide, segmentally arched openings.
There is an exterior wall chimney on the east elevation. The exterior of the building was given ornament in the Panel Brick style.
It has a corbelled cornice above a brick frieze at the roofline, corbelled stringcourses at the window lintel level of each story, and
marble, sills, lintels, and stoops. The stringcourses have decorative terra cotta blocks at the window openings. This ornament
corresponds in brick and terra cotta to the many materials and forms that enliven the exterior of a frame Queen Anne style
building.
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: “Graves Avenue was laid out in 1884 through the Graves homestead on Market Street. The street was
quickly developed residentially, and by 1895, fourteen of the present fifteen structures had been constructed. There were a
variety of residential types including single-family, double, and rows. This large block seems to have been built to contain nine
flats.
In 1890, Avon and Henry Matthews bought lot no. 1 of the subdivision plan from Silas Cooley. Mr. Cooley had
purchased lots 1, 3, and 5 in 1886 and had an eight unit brick row built on lots 3 and 5. In his deed to the Matthews Bros., there
was a restriction on placing any new building within 15 feet of his block. The Matthews were prominent builders, masons, and
carpenters, and maximized their investment by erecting this large block.”
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. 431-P. 409, 399-12