20 Harrison 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
31A-230 Easthampton NTH.542
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 20 Harrison Avenue
Historic Name: Allen R. Clark House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1913
Source: Directory, Atlas, and SDR
Style/Form: Craftsman/Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: stucco
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.275 acres
Setting: This is a west-facing house on a shady,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [20 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.542
_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 two-and-a-half story house is a combination of the Colonial Revival style and the Craftsman style, a relatively common
stylistic merger in the second decade of the 20th century. More traditional and slightly earlier than its Arts and Crafts neighbor
next door at 14 Harrison, this house shares the stucco exterior and paring down of ornament that marked the Craftsman
movement. It is a two-story house under a gable-on-hip roof. It is three bays wide and the center bay is a projecting pavilion
that contains a Colonial Revival portico on columns topped with a wrought iron balustrade. The door surround is also Colonial
Revival as it is trabeated and has respondent pilasters supporting an entablature. Windows, however, are triple compositions
meant to simplify the exterior and add more light to the interior. Roof eaves extend much further than the eaves of earlier
Colonial Revival houses and a one-story porch wing on the north is glassed in by bands of windows.
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: “This house was built for Allen Clark in 1913 at a cost of $6000. Mr. Clark was a foreman for the
Northampton Street Railway Company. Harrison Avenue as opened in 1890 and quickly became one of the most fashionable
streets in Northampton. Most of the houses on the street were built around the turn of the century.”
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.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [20 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.542
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.
This property would contribute to a potential historic district that would encompass the residential/institutional side
streets laid out on the south side of Elm Street in Northampton Center between Main Street on the east and the west
boundary of Childs Park on the west. This potential historic district is significant according to criteria A and C and
would have local significance.
These residential streets are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of the development of
Northampton from the mid-19th century as a relatively affluent community that supported several private schools for
young women, which prepared them after 1875 for attendance at Smith College, and the Clarke School where deaf
students were given an education that thoroughly prepared them for the hearing world. The residences in this area
made a shift from gentlemen’s estates to accommodation of the growing middle class in Northampton during the 19th
century with businessmen, scholars, teachers, doctors, and retired farmers.
According to criterion C this district would be significant for the range of historical styles that it includes. Gothic
Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles are all well-represented within a
landscape of individual large lots, and streetscapes that were laid out and developed at one time.