66 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, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
24C-069-001 Easthampton NTH.2525
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 66 Massasoit Street
Historic Name: Benjamin and Mary Hargreaves House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1890
Source: maps of 1884 and 1895
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Attached two-story garage added, ca. 1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.3 acres
Setting: This house faces south on a quiet,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [66 Massasoit Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2525
_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 one of the few one-and-a-half story houses on Massasoit Street and the only one that faces south rather than towards the
street. It is a raised Cape two bays wide and two bays deep and it has two, through-eaves, shed roof dormers on its south
façade. A porch wraps from the south façade across the east elevation. It is Queen Anne in style with turned posts and jigsaw-
cut brackets at the eaves. The porch has a square baluster railing above a latticed apron. A two-story addition extends from
the west elevation of the house. On the first story level it has two garage bays and on the second story are two windows. T his
addition has an exterior end wall chimney on the west elevation. There is a chimney centered on the roof of the main block of
the house. The roof of the house has fairly wide eaves that are thinly boxed. Sash in the house is 1/1 replacement and 2/2
wood sash.
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.
The first owners of this house were Benjamin and Mary Ann Hargreaves who had emigrated from England and Ireland
respectively. They were both servants in 1880 and had living with them two other servants, Letitia and Rachel Gray. According
to the street directory of that year, by 1895 Benjamin was a laborer rather than a servant. The Hargreaves were among the first
to build on Massasoit Street as it was laid out in 1869 but mainly developed between 1880 and 1890. After Benjamin’s death
Mary continued to live here through 1915, but by 1926 the house was owned by another widow, Mrs. Mabelle Nelson. Mabelle
and W illiam Nelson had lived for years in Northampton on Fort Hill Terrace and he worked as a cutter in a textile factory.
Margaret Storrs, an instructor at Smith College in the Philosophy department owned the house in 1935.
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 ] [66 Massasoit Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2525
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 Hargreaves 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 Hargreaves House is a modest 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.