22 Lilly Street
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-283 Easthampton NTH.138
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 22 Lilly Street
Historic Name: Alfred Lilly House
Uses: Present: single-family home
Original: single-family home
Date of Construction: 1880-1884
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: not visible and slate on carriage barn
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.25 acres
Setting: This house faces north on a residential street
with a 19th century character.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22 Lilly Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH. 138
__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 is a fine example of the late Italianate villa style that was very popular in Northampton. It is a two-story house with a flat
roof with very wide flat Italianate eaves. It is three bays wide at the second floor level, while the first floor has a blind bay, a side
entrance, and a large, fixed-light window with a leaded glass transom. The large fixed-light window appears in Florence around
1870 and there are three examples on Middle Street, and several on Bridge Street, and elsewhere as well. Windows in the
house have footed lintels and sash is 2/2. The main entry surround also has a footed lintel. The house has a wrap-around porch
that crosses its east façade to the north elevation, supported on posts with scroll-cut brackets. At the attic level Italianate grilles
are located in the frieze. The house has a slate-roofed carriage barn. It is one of the few remaining in the area and the only one
on the street.
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 the Form B of 1980, “Lilly Street was laid out by Alfred Lilly in 1880. Mr. Lilly was one of the most prominent industrialists
and philanthropists in Northampton. The Lilly Library, located nearby on Meadow Street and the Lilly Hall of Science for Smith
College are two examples of his philanthropy, while he served as treasurer and general manager of the Nonotuck Silk Co., and
was president of the Florence Furniture Company. This house was built during the early 1880s and was held on to by Mr. Lilly
until 1886. He probably leased the house out, as his homestead was on Pine Street. “
One of the occupants of the house is thought to have been Anna Carpenter Garlin Spencer (1831-1931) who was a theologian
in ethical culture. According to research by Steve Strimer of the Ruggles Center in Florence, she at one time lived here on Lilly
Street. She appears in the 1893 directory of Northampton as boarding on Federal Street at the corner of Main Street, but further
directories do not carry her name. She was a frequent speaker to the Free Congregational Society meetings. Anna Carpenter
Garlin Spencer was a minister, feminist, educator, pacifist, and writer on ethics and social problems. Spencer was the first
woman in Rhode Island to be ordained and served as the minister of the Bell Street Chapel from 1891 to 1902. She was active
in the cause of women's rights for more than forty years and served as the president of the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage
Association. Spencer's interest in pacifism also led her to prominent positions with the National Peace and Arbitration Congress
in 1907 and she was a founding member of the Woman's Peace Party in 1915, serving as vice chairman. She also became the
first chairman of the national board of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919. Spencer died at her
home in New York in 1931. She was one of original signers of call to found the NAACP.
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.
Strimer, Steve. Oral history of Florence, 2010.
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] [22 Lilly Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH. 138
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.