21 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-200 Easthampton NTH.672
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 21 Henshaw Avenue
Historic Name: Lucy M. Fitts House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: c. 1876
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.312 acres
Setting: This is a west-facing building set on a lot
that slopes gently down towards the east. It is in a
neighborhood of college dormitories and residences, many
converted to college use.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [21 HENSHAW AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.672
__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 Lucy Fitts House is an uncommon plan and elevation. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a side-gable roof with a
prominent cross-gable section on the west façade and a two-and-a-half story rear ell for a complex plan. Its roof has wide eaves
overhangs that are bracketed and further embellished in the gable ends with scroll-cut ornament. In the angle of the west
façade is a porch that wraps from the west around to the south elevation. It is supported on Italianate style chamfered posts
topped by a highly unusual scrolled impost blocks. There is a second story porch stacked above the first story on the south
elevation. Two bays wide, it has bracketed post supports and rests on a paneled base that is also ornamented with scroll-cut
corner reliefs. The main block of the house is two bays long with a double-leaf entry and an adjacent window. Windows at the
second story level are paired and have 1/1 sash. In the cross-gable section’s west facade there is a one-story bay window with
a bracketed cornice that has smaller versions of the scrolled impost blocks at its corners. At second story level there is a paired
window under a projecting cornice lintel that is supported again on brackets.
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: “During the late 1860’s, the western portion of G.N. Talbot’s estate on Prospect Street was subdivided
into building lots. These lots were set out along the newly opened Henshaw Avenue. Jonas Willcut of Goshen bought lot #5 in
1868 and turned it over in 1876 to Lucy Fitts. It was at this time that the house was built.”
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.792-P.358, 745-207, 720-191, 705-513, 327-471 and 251-214
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [21 HENSHAW AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.672
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 Fitts 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 Fitts House is a good example of the Italianate style. This
potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.