29 Myrtle Street
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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
24D-166 Easthampton NTH.326
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 29 Myrtle Street
Historic Name: E. Lee St. John House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1872-1873
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.183 acres
Setting: This house faces south on a short, residential
street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [29 MYRTLE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.326
___ 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.
The St. John House is the best-preserved of several closely-related, if not originally identical, Gothic Revival houses on Myrtle
Street. It is one-and-a-half stories in height under a steeply-pitched, front-gable roof that is ornamented with a Gothic
bargeboard at the eaves. There is a centered chimney on the roof ridge. The house is three bays wide and four bays deep and
windows on the first floor west elevation have label lintels, characteristic of the Gothic Revival style. Other windows have drip
mold lintels. On the west elevation there are two, through-cornice dormers. Window sash is 2/2. Surrounding the house on the
south and east is a particularly fine porch on slender posts with scroll-cut connected braces at the eaves and openwork railings.
There is a one-and-a-half story ell on the north elevation.
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: “In 1872, Dawson and Warner filed a subdivision plan for twelve lots on Pearl Street (now Myrtle Street)
and the north side of Summer Street. They had purchased the land in early 1871 and sold some lots immediately, but had
‘cottage houses’ erected on most of the lots to lease to tenants.
This property first appears on the 1873 atlas as property of Dawson and Warner. In 1891, the house was sold to E. Lee
St. John, a letter carrier, for $2250.”
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.
Registry of Deeds: Bk. 439-P. 191, 329-5, 277-15, 276-445 and 446