27 Meadow 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, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
23A-3 Easthampton NTH.158
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 27 Meadow Street
Historic Name: William Gerhardt House
Uses: Present: two-family residence
Original: one-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1873
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added, porch shortened, and windows replaced, ca.
2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.248 acres
Setting: set on a slight rise, this house faces south near
the center of Florence. There are two large maple trees at
the street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [27 MEADOW STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.158
___ 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 a large-scale house, two-and-a-half stories in height under a side-gable roof on which are two interior chimneys. The
house is five bays wide and two bays deep and on the south façade is a center entry behind a stacked porch on turned posts
with brackets at the eaves. The second story of the porch has a closed railing of shingles and its roof rests on posts. The house
has lost a good deal of its character with the use of 1/1 vinyl replacement windows and vinyl siding. Originally its porch was full-
width and its turned brackets and pedimented roofs at the two stories added considerable ornament to the façade. Remaining,
however, are two through-cornice, front-gabled dormers with Italianate peaked windows in their gable fields.
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 the Form B of 1980, “In 1873 William Gerhardt bought half an acre of land on Meadow Street for $400 and built this double
house soon after. It appears that the house was an investment as Mr. Gerhardt continued to live on Center Street, now Middle
Street, in Florence. Gerhardt was a die sinker and later a saloon keeper.”
Research by Florence historian Steve Strimer indicates that this house may contain portions of a much earlier house, known as
the Josiah White house seen on the map of 1831. The Strimer research included a field investigation of the building’s structure,
which found a second frame 36’ x 8’ x 12’ within the current frame. Confirmation of the second frame and dating of its members
would be important to link the White house with this larger house. It is known that Lydia Maria Childs leased the Josiah White
house from its then owner Joseph Conant during her stay in Florence. Following Child, the White House was occupied for a
time by Charles Munde, owner and operator of the water cure treatment facility at the corner of Spring and Meadow Streets after
the death of its founder David Ruggles.
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.
Sheffeld, Charles. The History of Florence, Massachusetts, Florence, 1985.
Strimer, Steve. Oral History, April, 2010.
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: Book 306 Page 496; Book 293 Page 89; Book 290 Page 291.
Northampton Directory 1875-76; 1885-86,