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30 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-126 Easthampton NTH.195 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 30 Middle Street Historic Name: William H. Rice House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: c. 1885 Source: Atlas and Directory Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: asbestos shingles Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Carriage barn Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.355 acres Setting: This is a north-facing house on a quiet, residential street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [30 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.195 __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 house is typical of many of the late 19th century houses in Northampton in its large scale and proportions and lack of architectural ornament. Clearly, with added siding details will have been lost, but this house in its size and plain exterior is exemplary of a change in architectural focus from the busyness of the Queen Anne to the more sober Colonial Revival. Forms are being simplified, spaces are being enlarged without adding towers and bays, oriels and porches. The house is two-and-a- half stories under a front-gable roof. A wing on the west and an ell on the south extend the interior volumes. A two-story stacked bay window is found on the east elevation. The first floor section of the angled bay window is larger than the second floor section, which is a typical solution during the Queen Anne stylistic period. The entrance porch has a flat roof supported by posts on high pedestals. Windows have 2/2 and 1/1 sash and their lintels have simple drip molds. Following the Colonial Revival convention, the two stories of the house are sided in contrasting colors, though the shingles are later additions. 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 large house first appears on the 1895 atlas as property of William Rice, an ice and coal dealer on the corner of Park and Meadow Streets in Florence. Mr. Rice is first listed on Center Street in the 1885 directory and as the house isn’t on the 1884, it was probably built in 1885.” 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 ] [30 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.195 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.