20 Linden 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
25C-205 Easthampton NTH.407
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 20 Linden Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1895-1915
Source: atlases
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Studio in construction
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.116 acres
Setting: This house faces south on a side street
near the Bridge Street Cemetery.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [20 LINDEN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.407
___ 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 well-developed Queen Anne style design and was a prominent house on Linden Street at the time of its construction. It
is two-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gable roof whose gable field on the south façade has been divided by two jetties
on brackets. This is a stylistic feature of the “Free Classic” version of the Queen Anne style, preferring classical elements over
the spindlework, asymmetry and ornamentation of the basic Queen Anne. It was popular after 1890, which accords with the
construction date of this house. The large house is only two bays wide, its scale being grand however, and the side entry is
preceded by a large pedimented portico on classical columns rather than the usual Queen Anne turned post supports. The
second bay is composed of a large, fixed light window, which was often found in Northampton during the last few decades of the
19th century. At the second story of the south facade the two bays are composed of a single 6/1 sash window and an oriel
window that projects from the plane of the façade. A highly unusual feature is the shed-roof, through-cornice oriel window on
the west elevation that rises two stories. It contains a stained glass stair window at the second floor level. There is a two-and-a-
half story ell on the north elevation of the house and it has a secondary entry under a shed-roofed portico 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: “Linden Street was opened in 1893 through the North Street homestead of Mrs. William Allen. This was
the last of the six streets opened through the colonial homesteads on Market and North Streets. By 1895, most of the southern
side of the street had been developed with single family residences, but the northern side wasn’t developed until early in the 20th
century. By 1915, though, all of the present structures had been erected.”
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.