220 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-164 Easthampton NTH.791
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Northampton Center
Address: 220 Main Street
Historic Name: Unitarian Church
Uses: Present: Public Worship
Original: Public Worship
Date of Construction: 1904
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette
Style/Form: Classical Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick/limestone/wood
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): brick lean-to added, ca.
1960
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.061 acres
Setting: This building faces north. It is set back from the
street and is reached by a brick walkway and a U-shaped
drive.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [220 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.791
___ 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.
Although this building is said to have been designed in a similar style to its Greek Revival precedent, it has become by the early
20thc century known as a Classical Revival style building, a style that took both Greek and Roman buildings as its models in an
almost archaeological adherence to its classical precedents. Here the front-gabled building has a brick sanctuary with a wooden
temple front that is composed of six Roman style Ionic columns supporting a full entablature beneath a dentil-ornamented
pediment. The pediment contains a demi-lunette window in its tympanum. The entablature continues around all three other
elevations. The brick sanctuary is raised on a granite base and is ornamented with corner quoins. It is three bays wide and
three bays deep and has a one-story ell and a one-story lean-to on its south elevation. The main block of the building has a
north façade with a center entry with a trabeated limestone surround under a hood that rests on consoles. It is flanked by two
small windows. On the east and west elevations the three bays are filled with large windows with splayed limestone lintels with
keystones and limestone sills. The windows are glazed with leaded glass.
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 Greek Revival Unitarian Church built in 1825 formalized the revolt against Calvinist doctrine and
affirmed the belief in man’s power to do good works. The Free Congregational Society of Florence, a second major source of
Unitarianism in Northampton, is now a part of the Unitarian Society in the center of Northampton. (The Free Congregational
Society was for many years housed in Cosmian Hall, now demolished, designed in 1872 by E.C. Gardner). The original
structure on Main Street was destroyed by fire in 1903; the new brick and granite building is of similar style and on the same site.
–C. Keith Wilbur”
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.