116-118 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-010-001 Easthampton NTH.2297
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 116-118 Main Street
Historic Name: L. A. Dawson Building
Uses: Present: commercial/residential
Original: commercial/residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1870
Source: National Register Nomination
Style/Form: 19th c. commercial
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone/metal
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Storefront altered multiple times; roof raised and third story
added, pre-1900.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.04 acres
Setting: This building faces north on to
Northampton’s principal commercial street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [116-118 Main Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2297
___ 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-and-a-half story, beige-painted brick commercial building under a flat roof ornamented with a pressed metal
cornice. Old photographs indicate the building originally was two stories in height and had a low, hipped roof with bracket-
supported cornice. The building is three bays wide, and second and third stories have windows with brownstone straight-head
lintels and brownstone sills. The first story is occupied by a single commercial space recently re-designed with its own entry
adjacent to a recessed entry to the upper stories. The building’s second story windows are full-length paired windows with 12
lights per window. The window size has remained constant but the sash filling the openings has been altered from double hung.
The third or added attic story consists of three knee-high windows. Beneath the windows of each story are three recessed
panels of brickwork. This is a modest building architecturally, but it contributes to the row.
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.
This building is part of a block of buildings on the south side of Main Street that was known in the 1860s and beyond as
“Merchants Row”. In 1860 the merchants present included an artists’ supply store and a photography store – both of which
commercial uses can still be found here. In 1873 the block was filled in with the exception of one lot near its western end and by
1884 buildings occupied all the lots. L. A. Dawson owned the building in 1895 and was listed with his wife Ellen and their two
daughters in the 1880 census; L.A. Dawson was a stock broker. The small building was raised a half-story ca. 1900.
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.