147 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
31D-145 Easthampton NTH.780
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 147 Main Street
Historic Name: Clapp & Johnson-Serio’s Block
Uses: Present: commercial/residential
Original: commercial/residential
Date of Construction: pre-1860
Source: Map of 1860
Style/Form: Italianate commercial with trabeated first story
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.034 acres
Setting: This is a south-facing building in downtown
Northampton.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [147 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.780
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
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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 three-story brick building with a trabeated granite storefront structure on the first story. It is five bays wide and on the
first story the bays are divided by the granite piers rising to a granite lintel whose blocks meet above each pier. The
westernmost bay contains the stair entry to the upper stories while the remaining four bays form a single storefront with a
recessed entry between windows. The upper stories in red brick have straight brownstone lintels on the second floor and
segmentally arched windows on the third floor beneath a typically elaborate corbelled cornice whose pattern appears in other
buildings on Main Street in downtown Northampton. Window sash is 2/2.
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 1975: “The Serio Block is one in a series of uniform commercial structures lining Main Street.” It was part of a
row of commercial buildings known as the “Granite Row” on the map of 1860 and its granite first story strongly suggests that this
building was part of that row in 1860. Until 1895, downtown Northampton maps did not name this row of buildings again but in
1895 it was identified as the Clapp & Johnson building. Alvin Clapp and Lowell Johnson in 1893 directory were butchers who
had their shop here at 147 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.