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53 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-258 Easthampton NTH.228 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 53 Middle Street Historic Name: Concrete House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: c. 1880 Source: Map and Registry of Deeds Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Clapboards applied over concrete, ell added, ca. 1900. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.328 acres Setting: This south-facing house is on a quiet, residential street that is well built up. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [53 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.228 __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 with a front-gable roof, a cross-gable wing on the west and a one-story ell on the north. As one of the concrete houses that have made this street well-known, it is two bays wide with a large “picture” window adjacent to a side entry. All the workers’ houses built by the Sewing Machine company used this large, fixed-light window, which is quite unusual for the period. Larger scale versions of that window are also found on Bridge Street from the same time period. The houses were originally nearly identical although additions over time have made each unique – in this case the concrete was covered with clapboards. The house has a porch that extends across the south façade and wraps around to the wing on the west. It has posts with brackets at the eaves as did several of the other concrete houses such as #45 Middle Street. The house has a similar side porch on the ell on posts with brackets at the eaves and a through-eaves dormer on the east. The concrete houses were simply styled with wide eaves that are thinly boxed, low proportions, and small scale. 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: “The 1915 atlas describes this house as a ‘stone building covered with clapboards.’ This is one of the four ‘concrete houses’ which were constructed on the northern side of this street. The street was laid out in 1860 and was first called ‘Concrete House Street’ after these structures. The other three structures still have their stucco-like surfaces. Samuel L. Hill was prominent in the utopian Community of Florence which existed in the 1840’s and became one of the major industrialists here afterward. These houses were probably constructed for workers at the Sewing Machine Company, which was located on Chestnut Street.” 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 ] [53 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.228 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.