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27 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, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 23A-273 Easthampton NTH.231 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 27 Middle Street Historic Name: James O. and Bridget Donnell House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: c. 1870 Source: Atlas and 1870 census 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: 0.256 acres Setting: This house faces south on a quiet, residential street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [27 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.231 _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 an early example of the Queen Anne style. It is a one-and-a-half story gable-and-wing form building. The front-gable section has a cross-gable on its west elevation and there is a one-story ell on the north. An angled bay window is centered on the main block and it has a paneled base and paneled cornice. Entry to the house is in the angle formed by the gable and the wing. A large square porch extends from the angle between the two house sections. It is supported on turned posts with scroll- cut brackets at the eaves. Additional visual activity is created by the use of clapboards on the first and second floors and scalloped shingles in the gable field, together with the shaped slates of the roofing. Wide, thinly boxed eaves create shadows and depth to the house exterior and on the east wing a through-eaves dormer adds an element of playfulness. 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. In 1873 this was the James O. and Bridget Donnell House. The Donnells were Irish immigrants and James worked as a laborer while Bridget took in two boarders. The Donnells had four children: John, James, Terrance, Mary, and Michael. The two boarders - though they may also have been relatives - were Daniel and Thomas Early, both of whom were Irish immigrants and worked as mechanics in a machine shop. In 1870 only their son John worked out of the house, also in a machine shop. The house by 1880 had passed to Belle and Robert Pease. Robert H. Pease was a flour, grain and groceries dealer in Florence in 1880. He and his wife Belle lived here with their son Randall Arthur who worked in his parents’ store as a clerk. In 1895 Robert and Belle Pease had died and this house was in their estate. 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 ] [27 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.231 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.