235-239 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-132 Easthampton NTH.773
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 235-239 Main Street
Historic Name: Alberts Block
Uses: Present: commercial
Original: commercial
Date of Construction: 1890
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, March 1890
Style/Form: Queen Anne/Panel Brick
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced and storefronts remodeled, 1990-2010.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage:
Setting: This building faces south in a row of commercial
buildings.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [229-239 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.773
___ 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 four story building whose upper three stories are identical to its neighboring building at 225-233 Main Street. The two
building’s upper three stories are divided by piers into three bays with three windows in the outer bays and a single window in
the center bay. The windows are arched at all three stories with arched brownstone lintels and brownstone sills. Their sash is
replacement 1/1 beneath a fixed-light, arched transom. The piers dividing the three bays rise to a decorative cornice that is
corbelled into panels of angled soldier bricks. Beneath the cornice is a decorative row of yellow corbelled bricks. The yellow
bricks appear again as stringcourses running beneath the transom lights of the windows across the façade at all three upper
stories. Stylistically this building may be seen as a modest Queen Anne, which in masonry is referred to as Panel Brick as
brickwork enriches its picturesque qualities.
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: “This four story brick block on upper Main Street was built in 1890 and replaced a wooden structure about
twenty years old. The block is the first brick structure to be built on the site. C.S. Crouch, a merchant, built the first substantial
building, a four story wooden block, on the site in 1870. At that time, the brick structures to the east and west were constructed.
Both the adjoining blocks were designed by William F. Pratt; the name of the architect of the 1890 block has not been
determined.”
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.