25 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
32A-138 Easthampton NTH.2059
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 25 Main Street
Historic Name: Masonic Building
Uses: Present: Commercial
Original: Commercial
Date of Construction: 1898
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, Feb. 17, 1898
Style/Form: Classical Revival
Architect/Builder: Roswell F. Putnam, architect,
Northampton Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick/limestone/metal
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.316 acres
Setting: This building faces south on
Northampton’s main downtown street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [25 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2059
___ 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 Masonic Building is Classical Revival in style and is one of the best examples of the style in downtown Northampton. It is
four stories in height under a flat roof with a set-back parapet wall across the south façade. The building is yellow brick with
limestone trim and has a steel lintel that separates the upper three stories from the five commercial bays on the first story. Entry
to the upper stories is located on the east side of the center bay. It is a recessed entry with a multi-light transom and the
surround is trabeated with two limestone pilasters supporting the steel lintel. The second and third stories are divided into five
bays. The outer two bays are composed of limestone architrave surrounds that enclose bands of three windows at each story.
The center bay projects slightly from the plane of the façade as a pedimented pavilion. It also is composed of an architrave
surround of limestone, encompassing the second and third stories, but here two colossal engaged columns divide the second
and third stories of the pavilion into three bays with single windows on the outer bay and a pair of windows in the center for a 1-
2-1 arrangement. Within the bays the spandrels between stories and the window surrounds are limestone. In the center
pavilion Putnam applied a Beaux Arts floral design to the spandrel between stories. At the fourth story, limestone architrave
surrounds again make up the two outer bays of the five bay façade and enclose a band of five windows, but in the pavilion
section there are three architrave surrounds enclosing a band of one, three, and one windows.
Above the fourth story is an entablature of cornice and frieze in limestone. The frieze is ornamented with rondel windows with
Beaux Arts style carved wreath surrounds and at the pavilion the frieze is a heavily ornamented Beaux Arts floral design. Above
the frieze is a dentil row then the projecting cornice ornamented with modillion blocks, all of which are repeated on the raking
eaves of the pediment.
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 law office of Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, were once located in the Masonic
Building. The office was appropriately located in the central portion of the structure.”
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.