13 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-82 Easthampton NTH.293
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 13 Massasoit Street
Historic Name: Oren Smith House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1888-1895
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: parged brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: slate and asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added, windows replaced, ca. 1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.138 acres
Setting: This is a west-facing house on a
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [13 MASSASOIT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.293
_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 Oren Smith House is a relatively late Queen Anne style house and has a less complicated plan and elevation than many of
its contemporaries in Northampton. It is a two-and-a-half story house under a front-gable roof. There is a cross-gable bay on
the south elevation, and in the angle between the front-gable and the cross-gable is a three-story, square tower with a pyramidal
roof. A two-story ell on the east has an enclosed side-porch on the north. This plan is not uncommon in Northampton. There
are three-sided bay windows on the north elevation and the west façade to add picturesque volume to the house. Bay windows
and several of the windows in the main block of the house are paired. All windows have 1/1 replacement sash. At the entry in
the tower is a flat-roofed portico on a post. The use of vinyl siding and vinyl replacement windows obscures some of the original
detail of the 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 1888, Oren Smith brought the rear part of the Wood homestead on Elm Street. This homestead was
bounded westerly by Massasoit Street, which had been opened in 1869, and northerly by Arlington Street. By 1895, six houses
had been built on Smith’s lot. Smith kept the title to this house and lot until 1897, when he sold the property to Louis Campbell,
the postmaster, who made his residence here.”
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. 494-P. 211, 418-321
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [13 MASSASOIT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.293
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 Smith 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. The Smith House despite its vinyl siding and windows retains
many of its Queen Anne stylistic features and would contribute to the historic district. This potential historic district
has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.