61 Kensington 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
31A-242 Easthampton NTH.551
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 61 Kensington Avenue
Historic Name: Mantor House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1890-1894
Source: Registry of Deeds & Directory
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added and windows replaced, ca. 2008.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.112 acres
Setting: This is an east-facing house set near to
the Smith College Quadrangle.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [61 KENSINGTON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.551
_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.
This Queen Anne style house shared architectural elements with other houses on Kensington Street at 58, 64 and 62,
suggesting they originated in a common plan. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gable roof with a two-and-a-half
story tower set back from the plane of the main block. The tower has a steeply-pitched hipped roof, and at its first story is the
main entry to the house behind a porch on turned posts with brackets and a spindled frieze at its eaves. A three-story bay is
attached to the front-gabled section of the house. Like the bay at 64 Kensington it has an open porch at the third story
supported on thick turned posts. Windows in the house are replacements and it is vinyl-sided, which has made its details less
apparent.
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: “Kensington Avenue was opened in 1890 and quickly became one of Northampton’s most ‘aristocratic’
streets. By 1895, half of the lots were built upon with residences and the rest were filled up early in the 20th century. Smith
College’s Quadrangle dormitory system caused the demolition of six houses on the southern side of the street in the late 1920’s.
This is one of the earlier houses on the street, appearing on the 1895 atlas as the property of Frank Mantor. Frank and
James Mantor were first listed here in the 1894 directory. James was superintendent of the C. A. Maynard Co., manufacturers
of shovels and hoes on Green Street, while Frank was a clerk for the same 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.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [61 KENSINGTON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.551
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.
This property would contribute to a potential historic district that would encompass the residential/institutional side
streets laid out on the south side of Elm Street in Northampton Center between Main Street on the east and the west
boundary of Childs Park on the west. This potential historic district is significant according to criteria A and C and
would have local significance.
These residential streets are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of the development of
Northampton from the mid-19th century as a relatively affluent community that supported several private schools for
young women, which prepared them after 1875 for attendance at Smith College, and the Clarke School where deaf
students were given an education that thoroughly prepared them for the hearing world. The residences in this area
made a shift from gentlemen’s estates to accommodation of the growing middle class in Northampton during the 19th
century with businessmen, scholars, teachers, doctors, and retired farmers.
According to criterion C this district would be significant for the range of historical styles that it includes. Gothic
Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles are all well-represented within a
landscape of individual large lots, and streetscapes that were laid out and developed at one time.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [61 KENSINGTON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
NTH.551