99 Main Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
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
17C-211through
17C-215
Easthampton NTH.111
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 99 Main Street
Historic Name: Miss Florence Diner
Uses: Present: Diner/restaurant
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: residence, ca. 1880; diner ca. 1930
Source: Sanborn Insurance Maps
Style/Form: Italianate and Moderne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick, concrete
Wall/Trim: metal, shingles, brick veneer
Roof: metal, tar
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Diner added to house, ca. 1930; addition added behind
house ca. 1950.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.021 acres
Setting: This is a south-facing diner with a large
parking lot on its east elevation.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [99 MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.111
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is part of a multiple resource Massachusetts
diner listing to the National Register.
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.
Like many diners, Miss Florence Diner is an additive property. Its central core is a two-story, flat roofed, shingle-sided, Italianate
style house with brackets at its eaves. The diner is attached to the south façade of the house, which is no longer visible, and
there is a two-story, flat roofed addition of brick veneer at the northeast corner of the house and a shed-roofed, shingled addition
on its west elevation as well. The house and its additions serve as restaurant space beyond the diner walls. The diner is one-
story and metal sided. It has a barrel-roofed, brick addition on its south façade, which serves as an enclosed entry. The diner
itself is sided in yellow enameled panels with red stripes and has a metal-paneled extension on the north side creating a square
floor plan on the interior. A raised flat roof covers the diner and its extension and on its south elevation the roof has the name of
the diner applied to it. There is a neon-lit metal diner sign in the shape of two arrowheads set on the southeast corner of the roof
and just at the corner below the sign is a large round clock on a neon-lit metal base. A glass block window at the southeast
corner ornaments the band of windows that make up the diner’s fenestration.
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 1976: “The Miss Florence is one of four twentieth century diners in Northampton. As indicated by its name, the
Miss Florence is located in Florence, a village of Northampton.
The ancestor of the diner was the 1880’s ‘dog wagon,’ a horse drawn vehicle dispensing sandwiches and coffee.
Catering to the fringes of the population awake at odd hours, these diners of the late 19th century were regarded with some
suspicion and distaste. In the post-World War I years, however, diners designed along the lines of railroad cars became
popular. The interior counter with stools, added in the 19th century, was joined by booths.
Perhaps not the oldest of Northampton’s diners, the Miss Florence is most widely known and was featured in the New
York Times in September of 1974.”
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.