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76-96 Maple 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-223 Easthampton NTH.224 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 76-96 Maple Street Historic Name: Parsons Block Uses: Present: Commercial/residential Original: Commercial/ possibly residential Date of Construction: c. 1900 Source: Atlas of 1895 Style/Form: Queen Anne/Panel Brick Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: granite Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone, cast iron, wood, pressed metal Roof: not visible Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 1.13 acres Setting: This building occupies a large corner lot in Florence Center. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [76-96 MAPLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.224 ___ 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 Parsons Block is the largest commercial block in either Florence or Northampton Center. It is two-stories in height under a flat roof and is thirty bays long on Maple Street, two bays at its rounded corner and eight bays long on North Main Street. The first story of the building is occupied by storefronts. On the Maple Street elevation all but two of the storefronts have a single glass showcase with a side, recessed entry. The other two storefronts have two glass showcases with a center recessed entry. The storefront system on both elevations is composed of cast iron posts supporting a single lintel, with wood showcase frames of engaged columns and paneled bases. The brick building on the Maple Street elevation has arched windows with brownstone block lintels, brownstone sills and connecting stringcourses at lintel and sill level of brownstone. The windows are set into bays with 1, 2 and 3 windows in an asymmetrical pattern, separated by brick piers that are crossed by the brownstone stringcourses. The windows on the North Main Street elevation are identical but they are not divided into bays. There is an angled bay window on the Maple Street façade. The building has a rounded corner and at the attic level has a metal building sign in raised letters, “Parsons Block”. The building has a wide metal cornice with prominent modillion blocks. Ornamental brickwork in a sawtooth pattern is above the second story. This commercial block is one of the finest and least altered in Northampton. 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 1980: “’This was the most important and commodious business block in Florence and it accordingly was at once appropriated by the leading local growing lines of trade.’ It was built by Charles Parsons, who bought the land from his father, Horace K. Parsons. Horace Parsons was a prominent Florence businessman, and Charles took over his father’s concerns, which included selling hay, grain, and coal, as well as clothing and gentlemen’s furnishings. He also performed legal services for the village including drafting of wills, settling of real estate, and acting as a notary public, and was the head of the Florence Fire Department.” 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. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [76-96 MAPLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.224 National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form Check all that apply: Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district Criteria: A B C D Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G Statement of Significance by _____Bonnie Parsons___________________ The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here. This property would contribute to a Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence Center is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around industry on the Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry that flourished through the Civil war as an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and Industry, a utopian community that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive slaves. It is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing Machine Company, which built its own housing. Architecturally the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library in the Revival styles of the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. The potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.