125 King 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
31B-115 Easthampton NTH.622
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 125 King Street
Historic Name: St. Valentine Polish National Church
Uses: Present: Church
Original: Church
Date of Construction: 1932
Source: History of St. Valentine’s Polish National
Catholic Church Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder: H.J. Tossier, architect
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick/limestone
Roof: wood shingles and asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.092 acres
Setting: This church occupies a corner lot and
faces west on a busy thoroughfare.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [125 KING STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.622
___ 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.
St. Valentine’s Church is a modest, Gothic Revival style building whose plan and elevation is based on the model of an Anglican
country church with its basilica plan, front-gabled roof and bell tower centered above the main entry on the roof. A second
smaller spire is located at the other end of the roof ridge. Set on high foundations to give it additional basement space and
prominence in the landscape, the church is three bays wide and nine bays deep and bays are separated by simple brick
buttresses with limestone caps. Limestone is used for a watertable and for the molded, Gothic arched entry surround, as well as
for a bell tower niche in which is a statue of St. Valentine on the west facade. Double leaf doors below mock tracery provide the
entry to the church and are flanked on the façade and lateral elevations by stained glass windows. The bell tower is two-stage
with its first stage the belfry with arched and louvered openings below the second stage, which is a wood-shingle-covered spire.
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: “The St. Valentine Polish National Church was built in 1932 and stands on the site of the homestead of
Rev. Jonathan Edwards, third preacher of the First Congregational Church. Original plans of the church are at the rectory.”
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.