74 Maple 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
23A-035 & 034 Easthampton NTH.172
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 74 Maple Street
Historic Name: Charles H. Gould House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1870
Source: 1873 Atlas of Northampton
Style/Form: no style
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: wood shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.216 acres
Setting: This house is east-facing and is near a major
intersection of central Florence.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [74 MAPLE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.172
___ 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.
This is a two-and-a-half story house with a front gable roof and shallow wings on both north and south elevations along with rear
one-and-a-half and one-story ells for a modified Greek cross plan. The main block of the house is three bays wide and has a
side hall entry. The house was altered in the 1930s with the addition of a barrel-vaulted portico above which is a small stair
window that was inserted. These Colonial Revival additions together with the wood shingle siding have brought a 1930s
appearance to this much older house. The steeply pitched, slate-covered roof has deep eaves with no supports. Windows have
6/6 sash and drip mold lintels. An entry in the north wing has a shed roof supported on a corner Doric column, a Colonial
Revival style feature.
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: “There has been a house on this site since the early 1850’s. The 1854 map shows Joseph Martin as the
owner. Mr. Martin had joined the Northampton Association for Education and Industry in 1844 and quickly rose to the position of
president, a position he held until the Community dissolved late in 1846. At that time, Samuel Hill, a charter member of NAEI,
and his brother-in-law, Edward Eaton, purchased most of the flat table land that forms the center of Florence south of Main
Street and lots were sold for homestead purposes.
There seems to be quite a difference between the house outline shown on the 1873 atlas and that on the 1884 atlas,
leading to the opinion that this house was probably constructed for Elisha Howes, a truckman, who acquired the property in
1881.”
The quandary stated above is the result of a mis-reading of the maps of 1873, 1884 and 1895. Rather than being on the second
lot from the corner, this house is on what was the third lot and belonged to the Gould family from the 1870s. The Howes House
has been lost.
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.
Registry of Deeds: Bk. 361-P. 265, 293-103, 261-297, 164-480 & 137-285