243-249 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-130 Easthampton NTH.772
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 243-249 Main Street
Historic Name: Ansel Wright Block
Uses: Present: commercial, residential
Original: commercial, residential
Date of Construction: 1871
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, Apr. 11, 1871
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt
Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Storefronts altered multiple times. Replacement sash and
altered two bays of second story into bay window. N.d.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.071 acres
Setting: This building occupies a corner lot, faces south
towards a city park.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [243-249 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.772
___ 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 Ansel Wright Block is a corner building with two principal elevations, the south and west. The red brick building is four
stories in height under a flat roof that has a stepped parapet wall on the west and an elaborate cornice on the south. The
cornice brick is decoratively corbelled into panels and sawtooth designs of some elegance. The first story of the south façade is
divided into two storefronts. There is a recessed entry to the upper stories interrupting the two storefronts of the more easterly
store. The west elevation is five bays long and the first through third stories of the west and the second and third stories of the
south have windows with Italianate pedimented lintels of brownstone and brownstone sills. The sills on floors two through four
are footed. Windows on the fourth story have round-pedimented lintels of Italian inspiration. Window sash is 1/1 wood
replacement.
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 Wright Block was an almost total reconstruction of the old Masonic Hall, erected by Isaac Damon in
1825 on this site. When the new block was opened in 1871, the Masons once again occupied the upper stories.
The block was designed by William F. Pratt, and represents one of his better and later commercial blocks.”
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.