24 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-229 Easthampton NTH. 541
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 24 Harrison Avenue
Historic Name: John Mason House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1892
Source: Registry of Deeds, Atlas, & SDR
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.214 acres
Setting: This is a west-facing house on a shady
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [24 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.541
__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 is a relatively conservative example of the Colonial Revival style as it seems to wish to hold on to the volumes of the Queen
Anne style with some of the features of the Colonial Revival. The house is two-and-a-half stories in height under a p yramidal
hipped roof. It has two cross gables on the west façade and single cross-gable on the south for a complicated plan and
elevation. The cross gables on the west have preceding porches. The first, which projects further from the plane of the façade,
has an open, Colonial Revival style pedimented porch across its two bays. The porch rests on posts above a solid railing.
Above the porch is a single Colonial Revival style Palladian window composition beneath a tall and narrow attic window. The
second cross gable has a wrap around porch from west to south that is completely glassed in above a paneled base. It has a
pediment on its south elevation. Above this wrap porch on the west façade at second story level is a second Palladian window
composition.
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 John Mason in 1892 at a cost of $3500. Mr. Mason was a lawyer and justice for
the District Court. He later became president of the Hampshire County National Bank. Harrison Avenue was opened in 1890 by
J.C. Hammond and J.A. Sullivan and quickly became one of the most fashionable streets in the city.”
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 Deed: Bk. 449-P.411
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [24 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.541
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.