24 Middle 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
23A-125 Easthampton NTH.194
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 24 Middle Street
Historic Name: Henry Townsend House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1884-1895
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Some windows replaced, ca. 2005
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.179 acres
Setting: This house faces north on a quiet
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [24 MIDDLE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.104
_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 a two-and-a-half story house with a front-gable roof, a shallow wing on its west elevation, and a south ell, for a T-shaped
plan. It has a full-width wrap around porch that crosses the north façade and follows the west elevation to the wing. The porch
is supported on posts and has swan’s neck brackets at its eaves, an unusual bracket form in Northampton. The north façade is
three bays wide with a side hall entry and at the second floor the westernmost window has been enclosed for a stair. In the
gable field is a pointed window, a window form that was often used in Northampton’s Queen Anne style houses. Like its
neighbors on this street, the Townsend house was well-constructed and has been well-maintained.
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: “This house first appears on the 1895 atlas as the property of Henry Townsend, an engineer with the
Florence Mfg. Co. Mr. Townsend had lived on Center Street since the early 1870’s, which makes it difficult to know more
precisely when the house was built.”
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 ] [24 MIDDLE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.104
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.
This property would contribute to a Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence
Center is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when
it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at
a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around
industry on the Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the
intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry that flourished through the Civil war as
an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and
Industry, a utopian community that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence
their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive slaves. It
is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing
Machine Company, which built its own housing.
Architecturally the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second
Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library in the Revival styles of
the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. On
Middle Street many of the houses are further distinguished as being among the earliest workers’ housing made of
concrete in Northampton. The potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and
materials.