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14 Henshaw 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 31B-196 Easthampton NTH.669 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center Address: 14 Henshaw Avenue Historic Name: Mary E. Denniston House Uses: Present: Three-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1887 Source: Registry of Deeds, 410.333 Style/Form: Stick Style/Queen Anne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Attached garage Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.164 acres Setting: This is an east-facing house set on a rise in the landscape. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [14 HENSHAW AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.669 __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 Mary Denniston House is a blend of Stick Style and Queen Anne style that achieved the principle goal of the two styles to provide a visually lively and picturesque exterior. The two-and-a-half story house has a pyramidal hipped roof – the preferred roof style in Northampton during the 1880s and 1890s. One of the aims of the Queen Anne style was to create a complex elevation and plan that would give residents many interior spaces and here there is a corner angled bay, a cross-gabled bay, and a one story bay window on the south elevation, all of which help achieve that aim. Asymmetrically placed dormers on the roof – front-gabled, hipped, and eyebrow – contribute to the visual interest. A full-width porch crosses the east façade. It is supported on turned posts with brackets at the eaves and a geometric patterned railing. It is a stacked porch and at the sec ond floor level, the one-bay-wide section is also supported on posts and is screened above a solid, paneled railing. The surface of the building is as variable as its volume and this is where the Stick Style appears as the house exterior is divided by Stick Style stringcourses, beltcourses, and vertical struts in imitation of its balloon framing, which is a Stick Style characteristic. The siding is mainly clapboard but there are shingles laid in various patterns in the panels as well as herringbone pattern siding and at the frieze level is a picket fence pattern. Adding to the use of patterns is the exterior wall chimney on the south elevation that cuts through the eaves, nearly blocking a dormer, and is ornamented with recessed panels of brick laid in varying geometric shapes. This is a grand house that epitomizes the period’s architectural goals. 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: “Mary Denniston purchased the rear of the Pearson property, corner of Elm and Henshaw, in June 1887. It is likely that the dwelling was built soon after. Its distinctive shape—the jutting hooded mass at the southeast corner—is indicated on the atlas of 1895.” 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 ] [14 HENSHAW AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.669 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. The House would contribute to a potential historic district that extends north of Northampton’s primary corridor, Elm Street, encircling and encompassing the primary feature of that landscape, Round Hill. The potential historic district is significant for its 19th century development from a few gentlemen’s farms to a neighborhood dense with the homes of its most prominent residents and educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton for several hundred years to the present. Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne style houses, the Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival styles of the 20th century that were often architect- designed by the region’s most well-known designers. The House is a fine example of the Colonial Revival style. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.