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QO nni,l,lIo Cf.- f 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 Please see attached continuation sheet. Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Date (month / year): March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 23A-271 Easthampton NTH. Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 39 Middle Street Historic Name: Florence Sewing Machine Company Housing Uses: Present: single-family house Original: single-family house Date of Construction: pre-1873 Source: map of 1873 Style/Form: no style, front-gable house Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: concrete Wall/Trim: concrete Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: garage Major Alterations (with dates): Porch removed, windows replaced, 1900-1990 Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.302 acres Setting: This house is on a narrow residential street in a quiet neighborhood of 19th c. buildings. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [39 Middle Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH. _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 one of three, once-identical workers’s houses on Middle Street. It is the least well-preserved among them, yet manages to retain its form and several important features. The concrete building is one-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gable slate roof. These materials are found in all three houses and it appears that they are among the earliest concrete buildings in Northampton. The facade is only two bays wide and has a large, fixed light window adjacent to its side entry. The large, fixed light window is also held in common among these houses and is a highly unusual feature for houses dating from the third quarter of the 19th century. The entry has no surround but has thin full-length sidelights. A flat roof porch on wrought iron posts is a later addition. There is a transverse gable bay on the west side of the house, which adds to the complexity of its floor plan and there is a one-story rear ell on the house. 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. 39, 45 and 49 Middle Street are three houses built by The Florence Sewing Machine Company for their workers in the nearby factory at the end of the street, after Samuel L. Hill , D. G. Littlefield and Leander Langdon founded that company in 1861. They represent an advanced form of building for their time and reflect the progressive nature of the three entrepreneurs. The housing would have been constructed about the heyday of the Sewing Machine Company, in 1870 when the company was the sixth- largest sewing machine manufacturer. The company faltered after the late 1870s. 1873 W. Day Estate House on Center Street then called. There are a number of William Days listed in the census in 1870, one is a tinner, a trade that could have been used at the Sewing Machine Company, but no connection was made in the census. By 1884 the house was owned by the F. Day Estate and Middle Street was still known as Center Street. Festus Day in 1880 was a Sewing Machine Company agent 52 years old. His wife Martha was younger at 39 and they had four children, Kate, Gertrude, Harry, and Clifton. Festus had died by 1884. Mrs. Day was still in the house in 1895. 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 ] [39 Middle Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [39 Middle Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 NTH. 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.