91 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-134 Easthampton NTH.92
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 91 High Street
Historic Name: F. Crossman House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1860-1873
Source: Map & Atlas
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Corner porch glass-enclosed, ca. 1960.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.616 acres
Setting: This house is south-facing and occupies a
raised lot that is shaded by mature blue spruce trees.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [91 HIGH STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.92
___ 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 one of the finest Italianate style houses in Florence and among the best-maintained as well. It is one-and-a-half stories in
height under a front-gabled roof that has wide eaves supported on paired Italianate brackets. It has cross-gable bays on the
east and west and a one-story ell on the rear with a secondary entry. There is an angled bay window on the west elevation that
adds to the complexity of the house plan. The three-bay-wide main block of the house has a full-width screened porch whose
roof repeats the paired brackets. In the angle between the main block and the east cross-gabled bay is a one-story, glass-
enclosed porch. The secondary entry to the north ell is ornate with a front-gabled portico on Italianate style chamfered posts. In
its rural setting, the house exemplifies the architectural design that was promoted by A. J. Downing in his book The Architecture
of Country Houses of 1850.
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 soon after High Street was opened in the late 1860’s. The 1873 atlas shows the
house and lists the owner as Dexter Goodell, a pattern maker at the Florence Machine Co. During the 1890’s, the house was
owned and occupied by the Rev. Frederic Hinckley, pastor of the Free Congregational Society in Florence.”
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.