267-269 Locust 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
23B-8 Easthampton NTH.234
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 267-269 Locust Street
Historic Name: Northampton Silk Co. Hosiery Mill
Uses: Present: apartment complex
Original: mill
Date of Construction: c. 1910
Source: Atlases and visual evidence
Style/Form: utilitarian
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick, concrete
Wall/Trim: brick
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Entry shaft added to south façade at time of conversion;
windows in-filled and new sash inserted, balcony added to
weave shed, 1980-2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.926 acres
Setting: This mill complex occupies a corner lot on the
main street of Florence and is surrounded by a residential
district.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [269 LOCUST STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.234
___ 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 Northampton Silk Company building is composed of three sections. The southernmost section is a two-story brick building
on a high basement and under a shallow, side-gable roof. This section of the building is nine bays wide and four bays deep and
has an added glass and brick stair tower centered on its south façade. Windows of this section, formerly industrial sized sash
have been replaced and the new windows inserted into smaller openings that have been filled in with metal spandrels. The
second section of the building is one-and-a-half stories in height on a high basement and under a sawtooth roof, a roof form that
was adopted in Massachusetts for weave sheds and other industrial processes after 1890 as a means of allowing maximal
natural light into the interior. What was originally glass on the sawtooth roof has been covered with asphalt shingles. This
section of the building is 10 bays long under 5 sawtooth shed projections. Windows in this section have been filled in with a
stucco material, and new sash inserted, replacing the earlier industrial sash. A balcony has been added to the west elevation for
the apartment use. The third section was added after 1980 and is a one-story brick and concrete addition without fenestration.
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: “The Florence Tack Co. was established during the mid 1870’s and manufactured tacks and small nails.
This was one of the first suck concerns in western Massachusetts and was operated until the early 1890’s. At that time, the
company failed and the shop remained idle.
Early in the 20th century, the property was purchased by the Northampton Silk Company, and the present two-and-a-half
story brick block built at the corner of Holyoke Street (now Straw Avenue) and Locust Street, as well as the ‘saw-toothed’ roofed
mill.”
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.