202 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-158-001 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Downtown Northampton
Address: 202 Main Street
Historic Name: Mrs. Harriet E. Parsons Building
Uses: Present: Commercial
Original: Commercial
Date of Construction: 1884-1889
Source: Sanborn Insurance Maps
Style/Form: utilitarian
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced, ca. 1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.035 acres
Setting: This building faces northwest in
downtown Northampton
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [202 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.
The Parsons Building is a two-story painted brick building with a ground floor commercial space and a second floor office space.
The first floor is divided into two storefronts with the shop door of each adjacent to a single display window. Entry to the upper
story is clearly reached by the staircase that is at 6-8 Crafts Avenue. More than a stairway is shared, however, as the second
story of the Parsons Building is identical to the second floor of its neighbor. It is five bays wide with segmentally arched windows
with 1/1 replacement sash under brick lintels with stone cornerblocks and keystones. The building’s cornice line continues t hat
of its neighbor with a sawtooth cornice above a narrow brick fillet. The practice of stylistically uniting adjoining buildings by using
the same elevations was practiced in a number of buildings 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 Mrs. Harriet E. Parsons building was constructed between 1884 and 1889. Mrs. Parsons owned this building and the whole
block south of this as her estate facing on to South Street. Parsons was married to Enos Parsons who was a justice in the court
system and some of their property was in her name, while another building on Main Street was in Enos’ name. In 1889 it was a
one-story building only and appears on the Sanborn map with a steam laundry in it. By 1895 it had become a two-story building
and occupied by a printing company and the steam laundry, and in that year the Parsons sold the building to John Metcalf.
Metcalf was a prominent man in city government acting as an Alderman, and when he got the building he also got an easement
from the owner of the Hampshire Bookstore building next door at 6-8 Crafts Avenue to a doorway in the party wall between the
two buildings. That easement was passed on between many subsequent owners. By 1902 the building was shared by an
undertaker and the printing office and in 1910 its address had been changed to 2 Crafts Avenue and it continued to hold the job
printing company, which had expanded to the entire building. In 1915 the building was once again shared with offices for the
Northampton Water Commissioner’s office and the job printing company. By 1930 the building had sprinklers so functions were
not identified for the Sanborn Insurance Company map.
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 Count y, 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.