190-192-194 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, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31D-160-001 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Downtown Northampton
Address: 190-192-194 Main Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Commercial
Original: Commercial
Date of Construction: prior to 1860
Source: map of 1860
Style/Form: utilitarian
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: stucco, clapboards
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
One story removed, façade stucco-covered, late 19th
century.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.036 acres
Setting: One in a row of commercial buildings, this
building faces northwest at a curve in Crafts Avenue.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [190-194 Main Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.
___ 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 two-story commercial building that has a stucco street façade and brick foundations. It is six bays wide with small and
narrow 1/1 sash windows at the second story, and on the first story it has a center recessed entry to a storefront between two
display windows with pedestrian doors on the two outermost bays to the upper story. The cornice has a row of dentils and
appears to be a 20th century addition. In the west pedestrian entry at #194 the stair hall wall on the east is an old exterior wall of
clapboards suggesting the building is still frame construction and may be one of the only frame buildings remaining on Main
Street.
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 history of this building begins by 1860, although this history is strongly based on maps that do not identify changes that may
have occurred and in some cases are sketchy. On the map of the year 1860 a wood frame building appears on this site, though
it had a larger footprint on that map than it does today. The bird’s-eye view of 1875 confirms that this lot, the third building in
from South Street had on it a three-story building and beyond it on the east side of Crafts Avenue were no other buildings. By
1884 it was only two stories in height when the Sanborn Insurance Company mapped it. Subsequent Sanborn maps provide the
best history of the building. In 1884 there was a painting and glazing store on the first floor and on second floor was a business
that renovated mattresses. Over the next five years more commerce was squeezed into the building as it had in 1889 a
restaurant in the basement, the painting and glazing store on the first floor and on the second floor they were still renovating
mattresses. By 1902 the space had emptied with no business in the basement, the first floor store now selling painting and
wallpaper and on the second floor was a cabinet shop. In 1910 things were much the same although the cabinet shop shared
space with an electric motor shop. The first floor decorating shop in 1915 sold wallpaper, paints and oils; the cabinet shop and
electric motor shop occupied the second floor. In 1930 the insurance maps were less detailed about what the functions of the
building were and this building is only marked with an “S”.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Bailey, H. H. Birds-Eye view of Northampton, 1875.
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.