15 Ladd 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
30B-80 Easthampton NTH. 439
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Bay State
Address: 15 Ladd Avenue
Historic Name: H. Ladd House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1865-1870
Source: Registry of Deeds, 225.208, 277.1
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced, ca. 1990 and windows infilled and their
label lintels removed.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.487 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot in a
neighborhood mixed with 19th century factory buildings and
residences bordered by the Mill River.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [15 LADD AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.439
___ 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.
The Harlow Ladd House was built before 1873 and is Gothic Revival in style although it has lost many of its original architectural
features since 1980. It is a two-and-a-half story house under a front-gable roof that is steeply pitched. The house is three bays
wide and has cross-gable bays on both east and west elevation as well as a one-and-a-half story ell on the south. There are
three, through-cornice dormers on the west elevation with steeply-pitched front-gable roofs. The house has a full-width porch on
the north façade that is supported on posts with high pedestals. Formerly pointed arch windows on all the elevations of the
house have been altered and filled in with the exception of one remaining in the gable field of the north façade. This is a
significant loss to the house as the alteration to the fenestration also involved removal of the label lintels that often characterize
the Gothic Revival style.
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 1975: “This rural gothic cottage was built between 1865 and 1870 on land purchased from the Bay State
Hardware Company, one of the many industrial concerns which occupied the site of the present Northampton Cutlery Company.
Edward Foster purchased the unimproved land for $275 in 1864 and sold the ‘land with homestead buildings’ for $2700 in 1871
to Harlow Ladd. It is probable that the dwelling was not constructed by 1868 when Foster sold a right of way through the
property; no mention of structures on the property is made on the deed.”
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.
Registry of Deeds, Hampshire County, 1123.188, 983.318, 942.496,923.451, 893.209, 833.233, 822.260, 818.63, 805.348,
595.291, 27.1, 225.208, 254.94