183-187 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-140 Easthampton NTH.777
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 183-187 Main Street
Historic Name: Fleming-Dewey Building
Uses: Present: Commercial, residential
Original: Commercial
Date of Construction: 1871
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, 4/18/71
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Storefronts altered multiple times.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.045 acres
Setting: This building is south-facing in downtown
Northampton.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [183-187 MAIN ST.]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.777
___ 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 three-story, red brick commercial building is typical of the smaller blocks constructed after mid-century in downtown
Northampton with its red brick façade, brownstone lintels and sills, and corbelled cornice in a pattern of panels, pendants and
molding. The building is four bays wide and on its second and third stories it has projecting window lintels with a thick profile.
These lintels are found also at the Fitch Building at 179 Main Street and at the Astman Building at 189-191 Main Street, all built
within a few years of each other and probably reliant on the same brownstone quarry for their trim. Windows in the building have
replacement metal 1/1 sash and the first story storefronts have been altered many times though they have retained the
rusticated piers that form the four bays of the first story. The westernmost bay contains an entrance to the upper stories.
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: “These two virtually identical commercial blocks were built in 1868 and 1871, during the period of
expansion of the business community in Northampton. The Fleming Block (easterly) abuts the Old Fitch Hotel Block to the east,
and, like the hotel, replaced a building destroyed by the fire of 1870.
The westerly block, the Williams-Astman Building, like the adjoining Carr Block, was built on the old Lyman homestead.
The easterly block was once the site of the Lyman Block, which housed a druggist and abutted the old Warner House, the town
hotel.”
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.