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71 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: PVPC Date (month / year): January, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31A-245-001 Easthampton NTH.2459 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 71 Kensington Avenue Historic Name: Elizabeth and Stephen Evans House Uses: Present: single-family residence Original: single-family residence Date of Construction: ca. 1925 Source: street directories Style/Form: California Craftsman Bungalow Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: parged brick Wall/Trim: shingles Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates): Replacement windows, 2003. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.132 acres Setting: This east-facing house is on a densely settled street of mainly late 19th century houses and early 20th century college buildings. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [71 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.2459 __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 house is one of the few examples of a California Craftsman bungalow in Northampton. In contrast to the classical bungalow whose side gable roof extends on the street elevation to create a deep porch, this bungalow has a front-gabled roof, a variation of the bungalow form that was developed in California in the 1920s to bring more light to the interior without sacrificing its open floor plan. It is a one-and-a-half story house whose eaves are broad and are supported on exposed Craftsman style rafters and carved braces. The house is two bays wide and the equivalent of four bays deep for a rectangular plan. It has on its east elevation a porch on shingled posts with a pedimented entry supported on braces and exposed rafters ornamenting the eaves. It has a side entry and a second bay with a triple window composition of three windows with 6/1 sash. The second story of the house has replacement 6/9 sash. The south elevation of the house has a through-cornice dormer with exposed rafters and a through-cornice chimney, too. The north elevation has a shed roof transverse gable bay. The shingled exterior of the house is a Craftsman detail, following the style’s insistence on natural and local materials with a hand-crafted appearance. The house has a one-bay garage to its rear, which appears to be contemporary with 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. Kensington Avenue was laid out and divided into house lots in 1890 by developer Charles Crouch who listed his occupation in 1900 as fiction author, but by 1900 most of the lots had been sold so Mr. Crouch may have been able to turn to an alternative occupation. Crouch developed most of Kensington Avenue but several of its lots, including the lot on which this house is located, were owned by the developers of Dryads Green: James Sullivan and J. C. Hammond who were active between 1890 and 1895 laying out Dryads Green. This house was built in the 1920s when Northampton was growing rapidly and new houses were being put up on previously vacant lots or where earlier houses had been lost. In 1929 Elizabeth and Stephen Evans owned the house and it was valued at $10,000, an upper-moderate price. Stephen listed his occupation in the census of 1930 as a common laborer, but he and Elizabeth had come to Northampton from Buffalo, New York where Stephen had more accurately been a steel worker. The Evans had a daughter Mary in 1930 who was 18 years old and a student at a local prep school, possibly the Clarke or Burnham Schools. Mary was later to work at the Pro-phy-lactic Brush Company in Northampton, while Stephen retired. The Evans continued to live here until some time between 1950 and 1960 when Mary and John Torpey bought the house. John Torpey was an executive in an Easthampton company. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, 1873. Massachusetts Historical Commission. Reconnaissance Reports, “Northampton”, 1982. Miller, D. L. Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895. Northampton Directories 1910-1960. Sanborn Insurance Maps, Northampton, 1915. U. S. Federal censuses 1890-1930. Walker, George H. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884. Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address State Archives Facility 220 Morrissey Boulevard Northampton 71 Kensington Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02125 Area(s) Form No. NTH.2459 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 from 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, Colonial Revival, and Craftsman styles are all well-represented within a landscape of individual large lots, and streetscapes that were laid out and developed at one time.