110 High Street
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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
17C-149 Easthampton NTH.99
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 110 High Street
Historic Name: General John Otis rental house
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1873-1874
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: gable-and-wing form
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
House sided, porch enclosed, and windows replaced, ca.
1990; chimney removed and dormer added to roof, 2010.
Condition: fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.129 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot that slopes
down to the south.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [110 HIGH STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.99
___ 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.
This is a standard workers’ house, one of two originally identical houses on High Street. The other is next door. It is gable-and-
wing in form with a front-gabled section one-and-a-half stories in height and a wing of the same height. The gable-and-wing-
form became common during the last quarter of the 19th century for farmhouses, and town houses as well, as it provided plentiful
light to the interior rooms and was relatively simple to construct. A porch that formerly extended across the wing has been
enclosed. Where formerly it would have had more decorative detail it is now utilitarian under its vinyl siding.
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 small cottage was one of two owned by General John L. Otis on the south side of High Street at the
corner of Fruit Street (now Keyes Street). General Otis was secretary and treasurer of the Northampton Emory Wheel
Company, and also president of the Mill River Button Company. The cottages were built between 1873 and 1874.”
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.