132 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-007 Easthampton NTH.2293
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 132 Main Street
Historic Name: Northampton National Bank Building
Uses: Present: Commercial
Original: Commercial
Date of Construction: 1913
Source: National Register Nomination
Style/Form: Classical Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: limestone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.129 acres
Setting: This is a north-facing building on
Northampton’s main commercial street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [130-132 Main Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2293
___ 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 National Bank building is a two-story, Classical Revival style building under a front-gabled roof that is
pedimented. The pediment rests on four, engaged, fluted, Ionic columns that divide the façade into three bays. The façade is
composed of ashlar-scored blocks of limestone. The building has a center entrance in an eared architrave surround flanked by
two windows with architrave surrounds topped by cornices. The second story has three large, fixed, multiple-light windows that
cover the equivalent of a story and a half in height. The columns support an entablature in whose frieze is carved “Northampton
National Bank” with rosettes at each end of the frieze. The tympanum of the pediment contains a wreathed medallion in relief
while rows of bead-and-reel and dentils ornament the cornice and cornice rake of the pediment.
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 Northampton National Bank is the third building in the history of the bank. The first was at 135 Main Street (formerly 131
Main Street), the second was the building next east to this building, at 124-128 Main Street, and finally this building that was
constructed in 1913. The bank’s most publicized event was an 1875 robbery that netted its New York robbers $720,000 after an
elaborate planning scheme.
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.