95-97 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-133 Easthampton NTH.91
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 95-97 High Street
Historic Name: Ira Todd House
Uses: Present: Five-family residence
Original: Two-family residence
Date of Construction: 1860-1873
Source: Map & Atlas
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: asphalt shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): west wing roof extended,
exterior wall chimney added, siding added, some windows
replaced, ca. 1970.
Condition: fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.767 acres
Setting: This house faces south on a large, raised
lot shaded by mature maple and evergreen trees.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [95-97 HIGH STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.91
___ 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 two-and-a-half story, two-family house under a side-gable roof with a center chimney. It is one of the most stylistically
elaborate of the two-family houses in Florence. The house is Italianate in style with its wide roof eaves supported on paired
brackets, a pair of arched Italianate windows centered on the second story of its south façade and a pair of angled bay windows
on the first story. The bay windows flank a pair of center entries that are sheltered by a hipped roof portico on posts with
brackets at the eaves. Two-story wings are attached to the east and west elevations and both wings have bracketed porches on
posts that cross the wings and extend on to the main block of the house. The house has been sided with asphalt shingles that
obscure its original surface.
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 large double house is one of the early houses to be built on High Street in Florence. The street was
laid out about the same time as the railroad line connecting Williamsburg and Northampton. The Williamsburg division was
opened in 1867 and had a depot in Florence on North Maple Street. This opening spurred industrial and residential
development north of Main Street in the village. The 1873 atlas showed the house and listed the owner as Ira Todd, a mechanic
at the Florence Sewing Machine Company.”
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.