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46 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-129 Easthampton NTH.197 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 46 Middle Street Historic Name: Edwin Bardwell House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1860-1873 Source: Map and Atlas Style/Form: altered late Greek Revival Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates): West Wing added, n.d. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.45 acres Setting: This is a north-facing house on a quiet, residential street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [46 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.197 _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 one-and-a-half story house under a front-gable roof that at the time it was constructed was late Greek Revival in style. The Greek Revival style had appeared in Northampton in the 1820s and forty years later it was still being built in a modified manner due to its convenience and economy. The main block of the house is three bays wide and has a side -hall entry with a trabeated surround of broad pilasters supporting an entablature. The door is slightly recessed as was often done to give additional depth to the elements of the surround. The clapboard-sided house has narrow cornerboards and window lintels with crown moldings that project from the plane of the façade with more elegance than the common drip molds. Alterations to the house include the addition of a wraparound porch that crosses the north façade and turns to the east elevation. It has a shed roof and is supported on posts. The greater alteration is the addition of a two-story wing with its own ell on the west elevation. It is a single bay wide and at the second story its window breaks through the eaves and is topped by a small cross-gable. A pair of window sashes with 6/6 muntin pattern are joined under a single lintel on the first floor. This addition appears to have been made in the first decades of the 20th century. As one of the earliest houses on the street, the Bardwell House set a standard followed by many of the other houses that were later constructed. 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 small cottage was one of the first houses to be built on the southern side of Center Street (now Middle Street) in Florence. Center Street was laid out in 1860 and was first called ‘Concrete House Street’ after the four houses constructed of such material on the northern side of this street. These houses were owned by Hill and Company and were used as workers cottages for the newly developing industry at Main and Chestnut Streets. The first known owner of this house was Edwin Bardwell, a mechanic for the Florence Sewing Machine Company, located on Chestnut Street. During the 1880’s and 1890;s, the house was owned and occupied by Louis F. Plympton, co-owner of Cutler, Plympton & Company, the grocery and dry good firm located on Maple Street in Florence.” 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 ] [46 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.197 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.