23 Highland Avenue
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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
25C-193 Easthampton NTH.405
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 23 Highland Avenue
Historic Name: Hervey Wright House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1884-1895
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: asphalt shingles and faux brick
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): Siding applied, some
windows replaced, ca. 1940-1970.
Condition: good-fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.132 acres
Setting: This is a north-facing house on a narrow
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [23 HIGHLAND AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.405
___ 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 house was originally identical to the house at 31 Graves Avenue, yet both are an uncommon plan and elevation. It is two-
and-a-half stories under a side-gable roof with a prominent cross-gable on the front façade. So far, that is not an unusual
elevation, however, the house also has a shallow wing on the west whose gable roof is attached off-center to the main block of
the house. It is rectangular at the second story and angled at the first story and between stories are arched braces. Windows in
the angled bay are Queen Anne with multiple pane borders. In the angle of the two sections of the house on the north façade is
a shed roof porch on which is a front-gabled dormer with a pointed window with Queen Anne sash. The porch has turned posts,
spindle frieze and a jigsaw-cut railing. There is also a one-story bay window on the cross-gable section of the house.
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: “Highland Avenue was opened through the Charles Steven’s property between 1884 and 1895. This was
the northernmost of the streets which cut through the colonial homesteads on Market and North Streets. These streets, as the
homesteads had, extended easterly to the Bridge Street Cemetery.
This house first appears on the 1895 atlas as property of Hervey Wright, a mason. It’s possible that Mr. Wright built this
house himself.”
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.