16-18 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
32A-141-147 Easthampton NTH.2271
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 16-18 Main Street
Historic Name: Crafts and Dawson Block
Uses: Present: commercial with six apartments
Original: commercial
Date of Construction: 1871
Source: Hampshire Gazette
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder: J. M. Miner, architect, Northampton
and Cleveland Exterior Material:
Foundation: stone
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Storefronts altered repeatedly over time.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.068 acres
Setting: This building occupies a corner lot in downtown
Northampton.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [16 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.861
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ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
The Italianate style Crafts and Dawson Block is a three-story red brick block that is twelve bays wide on Main Street and seven
bays deep on Strong Avenue. It has a flat roof with a patterned cornice whose brick is laid in a box pattern with corbelling above
and below. The two bays of the building’s corner at second and third stories are rounded and slightly inset into a framed panel.
The windows of the second story have segmentally arched brownstone lintels and footed brownstone sills, while at the third
story the windows have round arched brownstone lintels and footed brownstone sills. Window sash in these two stories is 1/1.
At the first story level entry to the upper stories from Main Street is in the fourth bay and consists of a recessed entry with a
brownstone lintel and rusticated brownstone piers. There are three storefronts on the first story each distinctively different from
the other. The storefront furthest west is apparently the most well-preserved. It has a center recessed entry between two glass
display windows. The storefront is topped by a three-part transom composed of multiple lights.
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 brick blocks lining the main street of Northampton between Pleasant Street and Strong Avenue are
the earliest brick commercial structures in Northampton. In 1865, the block known as the Union Block was built at the corner of
Main and Pleasant Streets. (This block collapsed in 1914 and was replaced by the 1915 Sherwin Block.) On the corner of
Strong Avenue and Main Street, Crafts and Dawson Block, later known as the Commercial Hotel, was built in 1870-1871. With
stores on the ground floor and ‘a hotel on the European plan’ occupying the 2nd and 3rd floors, the building took advantage of its
proximity to the railroad depots.
J.M. Miner, native of Cleveland who practiced architecture in Northampton from 1869 to 1872, was the architect of the
hotel at the corner of Main and Strong Avenue.”
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.