184 North Elm 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, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
23B-42 Easthampton NTH.236
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 184 North Elm Street
Historic Name: Matthew O’Connor House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1914
Source: Springfield Daily Republican
Style/Form: Craftsman
Architect/Builder: Matthew O’Connor, builder, attributed
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: stucco, shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Shed
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.331 acres
Setting: This house is set back from the street on
a tree-shaded lot.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [184 NORTH ELM STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.236
___ 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 Matthew O’Connor House is a unique house in Northampton being an idiosyncratic mixture of the Craftsman and Colonial
Revival styles. It is a two-story house under a side-gambrel roof with a centered, gambrel-roofed pavilion. The fields of the
gambrel roofs are shingle-sided. The gambrel roofs, often linked to the Dutch Colonial Revival style, have wide eaves
overhangs that are supported on hefty carved braces. On the main roof, flanking the pavilion, are shed roofed dormers. The
pavilion itself has a second pair of shed roof dormers that extend along its roofline as well. The roofs of both sets of dormers
have exposed Craftsman style rafters. The pavilion that is one bay wide at second story level spreads to occupy nearly the full
width of the house at the first story level. At first story level it has a shed roof beneath the pavilion and on its east façade is two
bays wide. Each of the two bays is composed of a band of four vertical, single-light sash. Newly replaced, they duplicate the
originals. The shed roof of this section of the house is braced at its outer corners with braces that match those of the gam brel
roofs. Entry to the house is on the south elevation of pavilion. The entry is composed of an open gable portico with a King
Post truss that is supported on carved braces. The main block of the house is stucco on the first floor and is four bays deep.
There is a jetty between first and second stories ornamented with small brackets. On the north elevation an exterior wall
chimney laces through the eaves in Craftsman fashion. The house has a one-story, shed-roofed porch on its west 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: “This house was built in 1914 for Matthew O’Connor at a cost of $4000. The 1915 directory lists Mr.
O’Connor as a general contractor, carpenter, and mason, and he most likely constructed the house himself.”
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.