12 Massasoit 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
24C-78 Easthampton NTH.291
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 12 Massasoit Street
Historic Name: Emma G. Burrows House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1891-1894
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added, windows replaced, ca. 2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.366 acres
Setting: This is an east-facing house on a
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [12 MASSASOIT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.291
_x__ 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 Emma Burrows House is a large house with the simplified elevation of the late Queen Anne style. Two-and-a-half stories, iIt
has a side-gable roof with a centered cross-gable and a center chimney. It is only three bays wide and two bays deep but its
scale is such that it is one of the larger houses on the street. Basically square in plan, the house has a two-story bay window on
the south façade and a two-story open porch on the southwest corner to add some complexity. It has a full-width porch on the
east façade that is stacked with a second story section of porch, one bay wide. The porch at the first story had a hipped roof
that rests on turned posts and brackets connected by a frieze of turned spindles and a railing of turned balusters. There is a
pediment supported on arched braces marking the entry stairs to the porch. The second story of the porch has an unusual
concave roof line with a kick eave. It has similar turned posts supports and brackets at the eaves. Windows are paired and
have 1/1 sash. The vinyl siding and replacement windows obscure much of the original character of this house.
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: “In 1869, Henry Maynard filed a subdivision plan for Massasoit Street and attendant lots. Development
was slow, with only a dozen houses erected by 1884. However, the next decade saw a good deal more building, and by 1895,
most of the present residences were built.
In 1891, Emma Burrows bought lot no. 4 of the subdivision plan for $550. Three years later, when she sold the property,
it was described as ’12 Massasoit Street.’”
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. 467-P. 88, 439-8
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [12 MASSASOIT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.291
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.
The Burrows House would contribute to a potential historic district that extends north of Northampton’s primary
corridor, Elm Street, encircling and encompassing the primary feature of that landscape, Round Hill. The potential
historic district is significant for its 19th century development from a few gentlemen’s farms to a neighborhood dense
with the homes of its most prominent residents and educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton
for several hundred years to the present.
Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and
Queen Anne style houses, the Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival styles of the 20th century that were often architect-
designed by the region’s most well-known designers. Despite its vinyl siding, the Burrows House is a representative
example of the Queen Anne style and would contribute to the historic district. This potential historic district has
integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.