17-25 Market 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, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32A-92 Easthampton NTH2047
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 17-25 Market Street
Historic Name: O’Donnell’s Block
Uses: Present: Commercial, residential
Original: Commercial, residential
Date of Construction: 1911
Source: Atlases & Springfield Daily Republican
Style/Form: Classical Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone
Roof: not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced, ca. 1990
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.171 acres
Setting: This building faces west and is at the
edge of the residential north section of Market Street but
where some residential buildings have been converted to
commercial use.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [17-25 MARKET STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2047
___ 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.
Towards the end of the 19th century yellow brick became an elegant alternative to the common red brick of commercial buildings
in Northampton. The O’Donnell Block is a good example of its use with contrasting brownstone trim on the street façade of this
three story building. Its other three elevations are red brick. The building is Classical Revival in style, its metal cornice being
trim and narrow, its brickwork rectilinear and spare in contrast to its earlier neighboring buildings with their metal cornices of
curved consoles or modillion blocks, arched openings and striped masonry patterns. Here, the first floor commercial spaces are
rather more complex in arrangement with three, single-display window storefronts and recessed entries separated by two
recessed doors to the upper stories. The three storefronts are united beneath a wood-faced lintel that acts as a signboard. The
second and third stories are divided into shallow recessed bays as is true of other commercial blocks on this street. Here there
are three bays containing paired windows separated by two narrower bays containing a single window. At the top of each of the
bays are two rows of checkerboard brickwork above a row of corner-angled bricks. Windows have replacement metal 1/1 sash.
Brownstone lintels and sills are continuous on the paired windows.
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 block and the one next south were both originally owned by John O’Donnell, a prominent turn of the
century lawyer and real estate developer, who also served two terms as mayor of Northampton during the early 1890’s. The
adjacent block was built c. 1890, while this block was built in 1911 at a cost of $20,000. Both blocks have flats on the upper
floors and stores on the first floor.”
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.