23 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-87 Easthampton NTH.295
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 23 Massasoit Street
Historic Name: Mary and Joseph Daniels House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1888-1895
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.138 acres
Setting: This is a west-facing house on a quiet,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [23 MASSASOIT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.295
_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.
This is the best-preserved of three originally identical Queen Anne style houses on Massasoit Street. It is two-and-a-half stories
in height under a front-gable roof. It has cross-gable bays on north and south and a two-and-a-half story rear ell for a Greek
Cross plan. The house is clapboard sided on the first story, shingled on the second story and there are decorative sawtooth
shingles in the gable ends. The gables of the house have embellished King Post trusses in their gable ends. Between first and
second floors is a beltcourse with a row of star-like ornament in relief. The façade of the main block of the house is one bay
wide. At the first story is a deep oriel window that has a small pediment on its hipped roof, brackets at its eaves, a paneled base
and windows with stained glass transoms. The second story has a paired window of 6/1 sash. It has a very shallow, shed roof
lintel that is shingle-sided suggesting the designer of the house was aware of the Shingle Style and a similar use of shingles to
wrap around architectural features. The north elevation of the house is the most articulated of the elevations. It has two porches
in the angles made by the cross-gable bay and the main block of the house. The main entry porch has a shed roof, rests on a
single turned post with respondent posts on the house walls. It is ornamented with a spindle frieze, brackets at the eaves and a
railing with geometric fretwork. The second porch is larger, projects beyond the plane of the cross-gabled bay and its turned
supports are connected by a solid shingle railing. It is a screened porch. This house represents well the aim of the Queen Anne
style to provide visually active exteriors and complex interior volumes to create a picturesque whole.
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 bought 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 land. Mr. Smith kept title to this house and lot until 1901 when he sold the property to Mary Daniels,
wife of Joseph, an insurance agent.”
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. 546-P. 438, 418-321
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [23 MASSASOIT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.295
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 Daniels 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 Daniels House is a fine 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.