57 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
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-257-001 Easthampton NTH.227
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 57 Middle Street
Historic Name: Hill Sewing Machine Factory Workers’s
house Uses: Present: single-family house
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1884-1895
Source: atlases
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.119 acres
Setting: This house faces south on a narrow, tree-shaded,
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [57 MIDDLE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.227
__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 fine example of the high quality housing that was constructed in Florence, much of it for workers in its industries. It is a
one-and-a-half story house under a front-gable roof and has a two-story transverse gable on the east and a two-story bay
window on the west. The house has a substantial slate roof. It is three bays wide and has a wrap-around porch on chamfered
posts on its south façade and west elevation. The porch railing has been removed. The porch is ornamented with elaborate
Queen Anne style scroll cut brackets at its eaves, and the front gable of the pitched roof has barge board trim in a neat
geometric pattern. Window surrounds and the main entry surround have simple drip moldings and window sash is 2/2.
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.
In 1895 this street was known as East Center Street, and in the 1860s after it was laid out it had been known as “Cement
Houses Street”. This house appears on that atlas but without an attached name. In 1900 the house was owned by Gerhard
Chrestima, a German immigrant who rented out rooms in the house to lodgers. Among his lodgers were: William Shannon (silk
dyer), Edward Clark (meat clerk), Hugh MacEwen (watch repairer) and Emil Perrot (overseer in ornamenting room at brush
factory). Renting rooms was a common means of making ends meet for people working in the local Florence industries.
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] [57 MIDDLE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.227
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [57 MIDDLE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
NTH.227
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.