1 Main 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
23A-86 Easthampton NTH.186
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 1 Main Street
Historic Name: Herbert S. Richards House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1905
Source: Springfield Daily Republican
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: stone, concrete
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles, granite blocks
Roof: slate, asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Ell added on north, ca. 1960.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.132 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot in a
mixed neighborhood of residential and commercial
properties.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [1 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.186
___ 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 Herbert Richards House is a two-and-a-half story Queen Anne style house under a side-gable roof with a centered cross-
gable on its south façade, which heralds the coming Tudor Revival style. The cross-gable on the south façade is steeply pitched
and has at its eaves returns a curved siding pattern suggesting the outline of a Tudor Revival style barge board. At the southeast
corner of the house is a round, two-story tower with a slate-covered, conical roof topped by a copper finial. A two-story bay
window on the east elevation and an added one-and-a-half story ell on the north elevation add to the complexity of the building’s
plan. A full-width porch crosses the south façade overlapping slightly the tower and echoing the round tower with a round
corner. The porch has a hipped roof that rests on Doric half-columns on quarry-faced granite block piers. The porch has a
pediment over its stairs and piers are connected by railings with square balusters. The house is sided in clapboards on the first
story and shingles on the second story.
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: “This house occupies a prominent corner site on Main Street in Florence opposite a small park. The
house was built in 1905 for Herbert Richards, and replaces an earlier house. Early owners of the property, including Mr.
Richards, operated a meat market in a small frame building next westerly along Main Street.”
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. 593-P. 39, 503-199, 437-339