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18 Lilly 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 17C-282 Easthampton NTH.137 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 18 Lilly Avenue Historic Name: Ella C. Elder House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1880-1884 Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.387 acres Setting: This house faces northeast on a quiet, residential street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 LILLY AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.137 __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. The Ella Elder House is one of several Italianate style houses on Lilly Street. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a front- gable roof with a two-and-a-half story wing on the west for an L-shaped plan. The house has a wrap around porch that crosses the north façade wrapping to the wing across the west elevation, then extending across and slightly beyond the north façade of the wing. The porch is supported on Italianate style chamfered posts that are connected by a railing with closely spaced balusters. The balusters are carved in a projecting urn shape to add a curved dimension to the railing. As was popular during the last two decades of the 19th century in Northampton when the Queen Anne style was in full stride, this house has only two bays on its first story main block. It has a side hall entry adjacent to a large, fixed-light window. The second story is three bays wide with 2/2 and 2/1 sash. In the attic level is an Italianate arched window. As a very late example of the Italianate style, it is not unusual to find Queen Anne elements in the house, which include the large fixed light window described above, and a Queen Anne style, multi-paned stair window on the west elevation. 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 1877, Alfred Lilly bought 3 acres of land north and west of Cosmian Hall for $3000. In 1880, he filed a subdivision plan for Lilly Street which ran between Meadow Street and North Main Street. Lots were quickly sold, so that by 1884, almost the entire street had been developed. Ella Elder, principal of the Florence Kindergarten, bought this lot in 1887, and the house appears on the 1884 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. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 LILLY AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.137 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 Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence Center is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around industry on the Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry that flourished through the Civil war as an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and Industry, a utopian community that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive slaves. It is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing Machine Company, which built its own housing. Architecturally the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library in the Revival styles of the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. The potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.