31 Graves 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
32A-86 Easthampton NTH.2043
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 31 Graves Avenue
Historic Name: Leslie Belding House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1892-1895
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.081 acres
Setting: This is a north-facing house on a dead end,
residential street
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [31 GRAVES AVE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2043
___ 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.
Unlike its neighbor at 29 Graves Avenue, this house was constructed according to an uncommon design, although it is
duplicated at 23 Highland Avenue nearby. It is two-and-a-half stories under a side-gable roof with a prominent cross-gable on
the front façade. So far, that is not an unusual elevation, however, the house also has a shallow wing on the west whose gable
roof is attached off-center to the main block of the house. It is rectangular at the second story and angled at the first story and
between stories are arched braces. Windows in the angled bay are Queen Anne with multiple pane borders. In the angle of the
two sections of the house on the north façade is a shed roof porch on which is a front-gabled dormer that opens into the porch
rather than into the second story of the house, so is purely ornamental. It has a pointed window with Queen Anne sash. The
porch has turned posts, spindle frieze and a jigsaw-cut railing. There is also a one-story bay window on the cross-gable section
of the house.
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 1892, Leslie Belding, proprietor of the Troy Steam Laundry on Masonic Street, purchased a part of a
lot on Graves Avenue. This street had been opened in 1884 through the Graves homestead on Market Street and by 1895 had
fourteen of the present fifteen structures erected. These covered the entire range of residential building types, leading the
Gazette to proclaim this ‘our most citified street.’ This house is one of four single family houses on the 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. 449-P. 377