41 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-171 Easthampton NTH.653
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 41 Henshaw Avenue
Historic Name: Elizabeth Clark House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1893
Source: Springfield Daily Republican
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.177 acres
Setting: This is a north-facing house on an
irregularly shaped lot that slopes steeply down towards the
east.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [41 HENSHAW AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.653
_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 Clark House is a Colonial Revival style house two-and-a-half stories high under a pyramidal hipped roof that was the most
common roof form in Northampton in the 1880s and 90s. The house is complex in plan with cross-gable bays on west and
north, a corner porch on slender columns in the angle between the north bay and the main block. The west bay has full eaves
returns to form a pediment in which is an arched window flanked by two small panels and surrounded by scrolled ornament. The
composition is suggestive of a Palladian window favored in the Colonial Revival style. The house is clapboard-sided on the first
story and shingled above. Diamond pane sash is used in the main entry sidelights, a second story porch door, and in a triple
composition window on the west bay. Diamond pane sash was often used in the early Colonial Revival period when
interpretation of Colonial architecture was freely handled.
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 in 1893 for Elizabeth Clark at a cost of $5000. It was located at the beginning of the
connector between Henshaw Avenue and Crescent Street. Henshaw Avenue had been laid out in the mid 1860’s, but had only
extended northerly to the house next south of this one. It was not until the late 1880’s that Henshaw Avenue was continued
northwards. This became Crescent Street and cut along the middle slopes of Round Hill, almost encircling it and winding up
back on Elm Street about ¼ mile west of Henshaw’s junction with Elm Street.”
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. 461-P. 219, 426-487 and 493
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [41 HENSHAW AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.653
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 Elizabeth Clark 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 Clark House is a good example of the Colonial Revival
style and would contribute to the historic district. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship,
feeling, setting, design and materials.