29 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-210 Easthampton NTH.525
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 29 Harrison Avenue
Historic Name: M. Dowey House
Uses: Present: Three-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1892
Source: Registry of Deeds, Atlas & SDR
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Porch partially enclosed, ca. 1950; windows replaced, ca.
2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.196 acres
Setting: This is an east-facing house on a quiet,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [29 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.525
__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 clapboard-sided Dowey House is a two-and-a-half story Queen Anne house. It has a hipped roof with cross-gable bays on
north and south and a centered, front-gable dormer. The dormer extends slightly on to the shed roof of a stacked porch. The
porch at first floor level originally wrapped from east around to the north but sections at each end have been enclosed so now it
only rests on two turned posts. The second story of the porch is centered on the three-bay façade. It is scallop shingle-sided, is
one bay wide, has turned posts and a row of spindles crosses the solid shingle railing. In the spandrels of the porch roof is a
carved star ornament in a checkerboard pattern. Above the porch, the dormer has scalloped bargeboards.
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 Mrs. M.A. Dowey in 1892 at a cost of $6000. It’s uncertain where she ever lived
here, however, and by 1895, the property was occupied by John Ross, who lived here into the 1920’s. Mr. Ross was a grocer
who developed a wholesale grocery system n Northampton early in the 20th century.
Harrison Avenue was opened in 1890 by J.C. Hammond and J.A. Sullivan along with Kensington Avenue and Dryads
Green. His area quickly became one of the most ‘aristocratic’ areas 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 Deeds: Bk. 449-P. 411
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [29 HARRISON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.525
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.