35 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, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
23A-2 Easthampton NTH.157
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 35 Meadow Street
Historic Name: Oscar Powell House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1867
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: eclectic
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Two garages
Major Alterations (with dates):
Window replacement, ca. 1990
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.614 acres
Setting: This house is set on a high lot with a
south-facing orientation.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [35 MEADOW STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.157
___ 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 very idiosyncratic house, due, perhaps, to alterations during the Queen Anne stylistic period. To begin with, the two-
and-a-half story house has a side-gable roof that ends on the west in a hip rather than a gable, though this is not visible in the
photograph attached to this form. There is a cross-gable on the south façade and the west slope of its roof descends to a one-
and-a-half story level with two, through-cornice dormers penetrating the eaves on the west elevation. There is a one-story,
rectangular bay window on the north façade adjacent to a porch with a pedimented entry. The porch is Queen Anne in style with
a spindled frieze, turned posts and railings. The exterior of the house is clapboard sided except for the gable ends which are
shingled. Despite its eclectic nature, the house is picturesque in the manner of the later 19th century.
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: “Samuel Lee and Nathan Hessey bought half an acre of land fronting on Meadow Street for $180 in early
1867. A few months later, they sold the property with ‘our new dwelling house thereon’ for $1475 to Oscar Powell. Within the
next decade the house was owned by two other owners before Omer Smith bought it in 1877. Mr. Smith was a foreman in the
finishing department of the Nonotuck Silk Co.”
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. 335-P. 333, 319-313, 312-272, 308-67, 244-421, 24-2