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FORM A - AREA
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Assessor’s Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area
31B-179
Eastham
pton
NTH.656
;2515; 2516
Town: Northampton
Place (neighborhood or village):
Name of Area: 25 Henshaw Avenue
Present Use: Smith College apartments
Construction Dates or Period: ca. 1890-1900
Overall Condition: good
Major Intrusions and Alterations:
Acreage: 0.172 acres
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month/year): December, 2010
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
Continuation sheet 1
_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, structural and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the community.
There are three former Capen School buildings at 25 Henshaw Street, a domestic science building, an infirmary, and the Capen
School heating plant. The Capen Domestic Science Building is Colonial Revival in style being two-and-a-half stories in height
under a gambrel roof. The lower slope of its west roof has a full-width dormer that is divided into two unequally-sized front-gable
dormers separated by a shed roof. The west façade is three bays wide. One bay consists of a projecting oriel window with a
large fixed-light sash beneath a multi-paned transom. The other two bays form a recessed porch that rests on two Doric
columns. On the south elevation an exterior wall chimney laces through the roof eaves and is adjacent to a two-story bay
window. The north façade has a projecting oriel window at its second story. There is a shallow ell on the rear of the building.
The first story is clapboard-sided and the upper stories are shingle-sided, an almost universal Colonial Revival treatment.
The Capen Infirmary is a two-and-a-half story Colonial Revival style building under a slate-covered, side-gable, gambrel roof. It is
five bays wide, rests on brick foundations, and has a portico on Doric columns on its south façade. There is a centered cross-
gable on the south roof flanked by front-gabled dormers that rise from the lower angle of the roof and break through the upper
roof level. The building is clapboard-sided on the first story and wood shingle-sided on the second story and attic level. On the
west elevation, there is a projecting porch on the second floor level that rests on braces. It has Doric columns supports as well
and above its roof is a Colonial Revival style oval attic window. Most of the window openings in the house are paired with 6/1
sash. The center door has a flat stock surround and is flanked by windows with 6/1 sash.
The Capen Heating Plant is a one-and-a-half story Colonial Revival style building with a side-gable gambrel roof covered in
asphalt shingles. It has a brick first story and a wood shingled second story. There is a cross-gable gambrel roofed wing on the
south façade. The wing is three bays wide and contains in its gable end a Palladian window composition. The main block of the
building is three bays wide with an end door. It is sheltered by a shed roofed porch on three metal posts. First story windows are
6/6. On the south roof of the main block is a front-gabled dormer attached to a shed roof dormer that has a band of 6/6 sash
windows. There is a second story entry in the west elevation of the building. It has a hoisting brace above a centered door that
is reached by an exterior stair. Windows flank the center entry and they have eight light sashes.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this relates to the historical development of the community.
From Form B of 1980: “In 1898, Horace Field sold his homestead to Bessie Capen, the principal of Mary A. Burnham School, an
independent secondary school for girls. The front structure served as the domestic science building and received its present
form in an $8000 remodeling in 1910. The middle structure was constructed around the turn-of-the-century as an infirmary for
the school and the rear building was built at about the same time as the heating plant. This school continued until c. 1970, at
which time the property was taken over by Smith College.”
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. 509-P. 443, 463-253, 398-51, 397-399
Continuation sheet 2
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 Capen School buildings 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 Capen School buildings are good examples of the Colonial
Revival style. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.
Continuation sheet 3
Data Sheet
Address Name MHC#
25 Henshaw Avenue Capen School Domestic Science NTH.656
Capen Infirmary NTH.2515
Capen heating plant NTH.2516