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42 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-226 Easthampton NTH.538 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 42 Harrison Avenue Historic Name: John C. Pickett House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1937-1938 Source: Directory Style/Form: Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Karl S. Putnam, architect, Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: not visible Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.225 acres Setting: This is a west-facing house on a quiet, residential street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [42 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.538 __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 Pickett House is a two-and-a-half story house under a side-gable roof on which is a slightly off-center, center chimney. The clapboard-sided house is four bays wide and its main entry does not line up with the center chimney suggesting that its architect was interested in creating the appearance of an 18th century vernacular Georgian style house where exterior symmetry was secondary to interior functions. The door surround has a segmentally arched pediment that is console supported above a transom light. There is an attached garage on the north end of the house. The Pickett House together with its neighbor at 46 Harrison Avenue also designed by Karl Scot Putnam represent some of the late Colonial Revival style work of the architect that was archaeological in design rather than the more common and standard forms that had evolved for the style. 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 is one of two adjacent houses on Harrison Avenue constructed from designs of Karl Putnam. Mr. Putnam was a prominent local architect of the first half of the 20th century, who began his career in the New York City offices of Edward Tilton, and in about 1910 returned to Northampton to join his father, Roswell F. Putnam, a well-known local architect of the turn-of-the-century period. After his father’s death, Karl continued the practice alone. In 1920, he joined the Smith College Art Department, and was in charge of teaching architecture until his retirement in 1952. In conjunction with John Ames of Boston, he was responsible for the design of the complete dormitory system, call the Quadrangle, at Smith College. Mr. Putnam was interested in the subtleties of Colonial architecture, and some of his reproductions have to be looked at carefully to distinguish them from the original houses. An interesting contrast is provided by Karl Putnam’s ‘archaeological’ Colonial reproductions with the freer Colonial Revival houses of his father, at least two of which are also on Harrison Avenue. This house was built during 1937 for John Pickett. Mr. Pickett was president, treasurer, and principal of Northampton Commercial College, and president of the Board of Trustees for the People’s Institute of Northampton. The College had been founded in 1896 by Mr. Pickett’s father, and trained stenographers and clerk -typists.” 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 ] [42 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.538 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.