45 Lexington 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
30A-47 Easthampton NTH.425
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Bay State
Address: 45 Lexington Avenue
Historic Name: William Frawley House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: c. 1867
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: metal, slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced, ca. 2005.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.5 acres
Setting: This is a south-facing house at the top of
a dead-end residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [45 LEXINGTON AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.425
___ 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 Frawley House represents the type of housing constructed by and for the developing middle class of Northampton in the last
quarter of the 19th century. It is two stories in height under a side-gable, slate-covered roof with a center chimney. The
clapboard-sided house is only three bays wide and one bay deep but has a two-story wing on the east and a one-story ell on the
north elevation that double its size. Across the south façade of the main block of the house is a shed-roofed porch on posts with
elaborate brackets at its eaves, a Queen Anne style porch. Set back from the plane of the main façade is the wing with its metal
roof. It is three bays long and one bay deep and here as well as the main block of the house windows have been replaced with
1/1 vinyl sash.
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: “In 1867, the Bay State Hardware Company filed a subdivision plan for Main Street (now Riverside Drive),
High Street (now Lexington Avenue), and Maple Street (now Liberty Street). The plan was for residential lots, and would enable
the cutlery workers to live nearby and heave their own lot of land. In many cases, the houses were originally owned by the
company sold to the workers after a number of years.
William Frawley, a grinder at the Bay State Hardware Company, bought lots #26 and #28 ‘with buildings’ for $800 in
1867. This might mean the present house, but the price seems rather low. Mr. Frawley is shown as the owner of this house on
the 1873 Atlas.”
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: Bk. 241-P. 322, 240-190