240 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-165 Easthampton NTH.792
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 240 Main Street
Historic Name: Memorial Hall
Uses: Present: Meeting Hall, Museum
Original: Library, Meeting Hall, Museum
Date of Construction: 1872
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette
Style/Form: French Second Empire
Architect/Builder: James McLaughlin of Cincinnati,
architect Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick, granite, sandstone, metal
Roof: slate, copper
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates): Some windows replaced
with fake muntins, ca. 2005.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage:
Setting: Memorial Hall is set back from the street
behind a circular walkway along which are memorials to war
dead from Northampton. The walkways are marked by
wooden posts with linking chains.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [240 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.792
___ 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.
Memorial Hall is one of the finest public buildings in Northampton. It is a two-story red brick building with contrasting sandstone
trim set on a high granite foundation made up of reticulated blocks. It has a slate-covered hipped roof with a copper trimmed,
slate-covered mansard roof centered above its north façade. The two sections of the roof are topped by a wrought iron
balustrade. A broad pressed metal cornice surrounds the roofline and is ornamented with oversized modillion blocks and
supported on brackets. On the north façade the cornice has a centered, segmentally arched, pressed metal pediment above a
projecting pavilion that is five bays wide. The center entry in the pavilion occupies both first and second stories and is reached
by a granite stoop at each side of which is a pedestal on which is a life-sized, bronze statue. On the west the statue represents
the navy and on the east the statue represents the army. The pavilion is framed by two piers framing a center entry that has a
granite architrave surround with a keystone made of dressed granite blocks under a dentil ornamented cornice. Within the
opening of the entry is a panel-sided, wooden entry under a two-part transom. The entry doors are recessed within this
composition. The piers rise through the third story where they are paneled with sandstone molding on their exposed elevations.
Within the piers are three recessed windows with 1/1 sash. At each side of the pavilion the building has single bay. On the
basement level it is a segmentally arched opening, at the first story it is a tall opening with an architrave surround of sandstone
topped by a cornice and containing 2/2 sash. At the second story level is a pair of windows under a single, sandstone lintel.
The windows of the east and west elevations follow the same pattern. On the second story they are divided by brick piers with
sandstone capitals carved in an Eastlake pattern. Sandstone stringcourses encircle the main block and form the window sills
that are also footed. There is a two-story ell on the south elevation, four bays long. Its windows have sandstone straight-headed
lintels and sills.
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: “In 1871, Memorial Hall was built on the hill above the Gas Light Company buildings. Public subscriptio n
and town funds contributed equally to its construction. Books from other local libraries were consolidated at the new Clarke
Library and reading rooms on the main floor. A bequest of $40,000 by John Clarke maintained the library. In memory of the
soldiers who served the town since 1654, a list of all of the city’s military men is displayed in the foyer. The second floor of
Memorial Hall now houses a collection of early Northampton artifacts, maintained by the Northampton Historical Society.
The plan of Memorial Hall was executed by James McLaughlin of Cincinnati. McLaughlin apparently never came to
Northampton; William F. Pratt was charged with overseeing the actual construction of the building.”
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.