114 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
32C-011-01 Easthampton NTH.2423
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 114 Main Street
Historic Name: M. M. Francis Building
Uses: Present: Commercial
Original: Commercial
Date of Construction: ca. 1860 and ca. 1890
Source: atlas of 1873, photographs c. 1890
Style/Form: Italianate to Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: granite, brick
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Second story fenestration altered, ca. 2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.024 acres
Setting: This is one of two small narrow buildings
on the block. It is north-facing.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [114 Main Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2423
___ 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 two-story brick commercial building under a flat roof. It was originally two bays wide, but its second story fenestration
has been altered so that the two former separate windows have been merged into a single window composition of two fixed
lights below hoppers under a steel lintel. The first story has a single storefront with an adjacent entry that serves both the
commercial space and the upstairs access. What is architecturally significant about this building is the brickwork that ornaments
its façade – an alteration that was made around the turn-of-the-century. The low two-story building was embellished and its roof
raised to provide for this elaborate cornice. Above the second story are two brick panels of corbelled brick in a checkerboard
pattern. The cornice of the building has corbelled bricks in a sawtooth pattern above two panels with recessed quatrefoils
separated by paneled consoles. This brickwork is Queen Anne in style, often called Panel Brick when it is in masonry. While
other commercial buildings in downtown Northampton have similar elements, none has been composed with quite this fine
brickwork in a small space.
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.
The commercial buildings of downtown Northampton in this block were known collectively as Merchant’s Row and according to
the directory on the 1860 map held in common a few of the commercial endeavors that are still found there today, namely artis ts
supplies and photography store. Merchants Row appears largely to have been owned in 1860 by W. H. Storrs. It is known that
some buildings came and went on the lots but by 1895 it would appear that this building was in place and in the ownership of M.
M. Francis, although an M. M. Francis does not appear in the censuses in the surrounding decades. It was a low, two-story
building that subsequently was raised.
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.