273 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-114 Easthampton NTH.2256
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 273 Main Street
Historic Name: J. B. O’Donnell Building
Uses: Present: commercial, residential
Original: commercial, residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1886
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette
Style/Form: late 19th c. commercial
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone/pressed metal
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Storefront altered, second story windows enlarged, ca.
1970.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.03 acres
Setting: This building faces south on the last
downtown commercial block on the north end of Main
Street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [273 Main Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2256
___ 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 J. B. O’Donnell Building is one of two nearly identical buildings built by the lawyer. The second is at 261-265 Main Street.
They are three story, painted brick buildings under flat roofs with pressed metal cornices at the roofline. The cornices include
elaborate scrolled brackets that are repeated on Daley’s Building that is between the two buildings. The facades of 261 and 273
are divided into bays by piers that are connected at their upper ends by a row of corbelled bricks. Here at 273 there are only
three bays and they are made up of segmentally arched windows at the third story, but at the second story is an angled bay
window. The third story windows have segmentally arched lintels with keystones and footed sills. The lintels and sills are
probably brownstone, but now painted. The second story bay window, which is original to the building, has paneled cornice and
base and its sash has been altered by dividing the center window into two panes by a narrow vertical mullion and placing 1/1
sash in the side windows. At the first story level the building has a single contemporary storefront.
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 series of five brick blocks was built on upper Main Street late in the 1880’s. The lot was empty prior
to this time. The Edwards Church had been rebuilt on the corner of Main and State Streets in 1874. About 1886, the lot was
first considered for commercial development when a four story brick block was contemplated at the corner of Main and Masonic
Street. Although these plans were abandoned, several other blocks had been built by late 1886, and the Daley Block is
inscribed with the date 1887. The block adjoining Edwards Church was first known as Higbee Block; lawyer J.B. O’Donnell
owned #2 & #4 and sold them early in 1887.”
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.