166-168 North Main 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
16D-13 Easthampton NTH.61
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 166-168 North Main Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Two-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1873
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard/
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.259 acres
Setting: This is a north-facing house in a residential
stretch on Route 9. Its land slopes down to the Mill River on
the southeast.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [166-168 NORTH MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.61
___ 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 one of two, once-identical, two-family houses built side-by-side on North Main Street. Its companion house is at 156-158.
Of the two, this is the better preserved with its clapboard siding and original window configuration remaining. It is two-stories in
height under a hipped roof and is six bays wide and the equivalent of four bays deep. A hipped roof of this pitch is unusual for an
Italianate period house and would more commonly be lower to approximate a flat roof. The north façade has its two entries
centered flanked at each side by two windows with 6/6 sash. The north façade has a one-story, full-width, shed-roofed porch
that is supported on Italianate style chamfered posts with solid brackets at its eaves. At the second story level there are two
windows for each unit and two blind center bays. Secondary entries are located on the east and west elevations of the house.
They have glassed-in porticos that may have been later alterations. Although the two houses appear to have been on their
respective lots since the map of 1873, their footprints have changed significantly and further research is warranted on their
history.
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 is one of two virtually identical double houses built next to each other on the west side of North Main
Street during the 1860’s. The street had existed since the 18th century as the road to Williamsburg, but was not developed
residentially until the 1860’s. Bela Gardner, a farmer, bought seven acres of land in 1863 and 1864, established his home on
part of the land and had these two double houses built by 1873. Afterwards, other lots fronting on the street were sold for
residential development.”
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. 518-P. 7, 340-10, 223-323, 212-364