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54 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-131 Easthampton NTH.199 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 54 Middle Street Historic Name: William Genhard House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1860-1873 Source: Map and Atlas Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboard Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Replacement windows added, ca. 2005 Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.328 acres Setting: This north-facing house is on a tree- shaded, built-up residential street. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [54 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.199 __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, modest, Italianate house with a front-gable roof and is a relatively common house form seen also at 46 Middle Street. An economical house to built, it served well as workers’ housing for the attic space that could be used for rooms as well as the first floor. It is three bays wide and the equivalent of four bays deep and has a short, one-story ell on the south. There is also a rectangular bay window on the west elevation that adds to the volume of the interior. The house has a wraparound porch on its north façade and east elevation. The porch rests on posts and has braces that are scroll-cut at the eaves and square baluster railings. Its windows have been replaced with vinyl. 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 once of the first houses to be built on the southern side of Center Street (now Middle Street). The house first appears on the 1873 atlas and is shown as the residence of William Genhard, a diesinker at Florence Mfg. Co.” 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 ] [54 MIDDLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.199 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.