44 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-262 Easthampton NTH.2267
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center
Address: 44 Main Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Commercial
Original: Commercial
Date of Construction: 1867
Source: Hampshire Gazette
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: brick and brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.022 acres
Setting: This building faces north on downtown
Northampton’s major thoroughfare.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [44 Main Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2267
___ 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.
44 Main Street is a sliver of a building in comparison to its neighbors. It is a red brick building with brownstone trim, is three
stories in height, and is two bays wide above a single storefront. As it was built after its neighboring building at #48, the Lee and
Hussey Building of 1865, it was built to match the earlier building and the two share a common cornice pattern, floor levels,
brownstone sills and lintels, and at the first story they have a single brownstone lintel with brownstone piers at each side.
Windows have replacement 1/1 sash. The storefront has a recessed entry adjacent to a glass display window and has a
brownstone pier on its west side that has been painted.
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 brick blocks lining the main street of Northampton between Pleasant Street and Strong Avenue are
the earliest brick commercial structures in Northampton. In 1865, the block known as the Union Block was built at the corner of
Main and Pleasant Streets. (This block collapsed in 1914 and was replaced by the 1915 Sherwin Block.) The Dickinson Block
was erected in the summer of 1867; the small building one bay wide was erected between the Dickinson Block and the Lee &
Hussey (1865) block the same year.” 44 Main Street it the small building referenced above.
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.