179 Main Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
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-141 Easthampton NTH.778
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 179 Main Street
Historic Name: Fitch Hotel Building
Uses: Present: Seven-unit residence
Original: Hotel
Date of Construction: 1871
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, 7/11/1871
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder: J.M. Miner, architect, Cleveland
and Northampton Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Eastern 2/3 of the building demolished in 1955. Windows
replaced ca. 1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.14 acres
Setting: This building faces south and is the tallest
building on its block.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [179 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.778
___ 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.
The Fitch Hotel remains as this building, having once been three times its size. It is a wing of what was a three-part building with
two six-bay-wide wings flanking a slightly recessed, five-bay center section with iron balconies at two of its four stories. Today
the red brick building is four stories in height and is six bays wide. It has rusticated brownstone piers at the first story level and
rusticated brownstone quoins framing the upper three stories. The building has a flat roof with a projecting metal cornice with a
centered pediment in which is a raised letter “F”. The first story of the building is devoted to two storefronts separated by
brownstone piers painted, and in the westernmost bay of the first story is a door to the upper stories. The second story has
straight-head brownstone sills and lintels; the third story has segmentally arched brownstone lintels and those of the fourth story
are arched in Italianate style. Windows in the building have replacement 1/1 sash.
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 Fitch Hotel and two hotel blocks, built in 1870-1871, replaced the burned Warner House. Only the
westernmost block remains. The group of three buildings was executed by J. M. Miner.” This building is a portion of the large
hotel that was constructed by the Fitch brothers, two men from Hatfield who were prosperous tobacco farmers in 1871. By 1895
the hotel had changed hands and was known as the Draper Hotel, or Mansion House. It served as a hotel until in 1955 the
center and easternmost sections of the building were demolished, leaving only this 1/3 of the original. In the place of the
demolished sections of the hotel are one-story commercial buildings.
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.