25 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-209 Easthampton NTH.524
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 25 Harrison Avenue
Historic Name: J.A. Sullivan House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1894-1895
Source: 1895 Atlas, Directory
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: B. H. Seabury, Springfield
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: shingles, clapboard, strapwork
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.284 acres
Setting: This is an east-facing house whose
property has been carefully landscaped.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [25 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.524
__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.
The Sullivan House is Queen Anne in style at its best. It is two-and-a-half stories under a hipped roof, which is the most
common house form for Queen Anne in Northampton. Projecting from the hipped roof are cross gable bays on south, east and
north. On the east façade the cross-gable bay is rounded and sits next to a stacked porch. On the first story the porch is wrap
around and has a gazebo corner. It is supported on Ionic colonettes above high pedestals. The same colonettes support the
smaller second story, screened-in porch. It has a flat roof beneath which is a broad frieze with festooning in relief. It has
scalloped shingle solid railings. The same shingles appear in a band that wraps around the house between first and second
stories. The front gable bay of the east has strapwork in its pediment to add to the many eye-catching surfaces of the house’s
exterior.
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 1976: “Harrison Avenue was opened off Elm Street in the early 1890’s. Much of the property on the street
belonged to J.A. Sullivan, who had his home built there in 1894-1895. The residence was designed by B. H. Seabury of
Springfield, who later designed two commercial blocks in downtown Northampton.
B.H. Seabury began his career in Springfield as a draughtsman in the office of E. C. Gardner. Seabury had attended
the special course in architecture at MIT from 187 to 1879 after working with an architect in his home, Newport, Rhode Island.
Seabury was employed on the Brooklyn Bridge project until 1882, when he arrived in Springfield. His work in Springfield
included commercial blocks, residences, schools and other public buildings. His other designs in Northampton are: Dewey
Block, Pleasant Street; Hammond Block, Main Street; J. W. Hartwell House, Harrison 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.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [25 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.524
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.