9 North Main 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
17C-225 Easthampton NTH.114
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 9 North Main Street
Historic Name: George W. Maine House
Uses: Present: Three-family residence, commercial
Original: Single-family residence, commercial
Date of Construction: ca. 1880
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick, concrete
Wall/Trim: clapboards, artificial siding, brick
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.133 acres
Setting: Set at the edge of Florence’s commercial center,
this building faces south and is on a tree-shaded lot.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [9 NORTH MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.114
___ 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 Maine House is an unusual example of a late 19th century, purpose-built commercial/residential building. It is two-and-a-half
stories in height under a front-gable roof that is slate covered. The house has a high basement that provides for a row of display
windows on its south façade beneath a full-width porch. There is a shallow, cross-gabled wing on the west, a one-story, shed-
roofed store addition at the southeast corner of the building that extends beyond the plane of the façade to the sidewalk, and a
series of ells on the north that include more recent garage additions along with an original north ell of two-and-a-half stories.
The main block of the house is three bays wide and the equivalent of four bays deep. It has wide, thinly-boxed eaves and a
center chimney. A porch crosses the south façade and wraps around to the west elevation, stopping at the wing. The high
porch is supported on braces at the basement level and its roof is supported on Italianate chamfered posts on pedestals and has
solid brackets at the eaves in a scroll-cut pattern. Windows of the first story are nearly three-quarter length in the Italianate
fashion and there is a triple, round-arched window composition in the gable field. The southeast store is brick with clapboards
added to the west elevation. It has a traditional storefront with display windows flanking a recessed center entry.
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 two and a half story house with store in the basement was probably built for George Maine in the
early 1880’s. According to the 1875 directory, Mr. Maine operated a meat market on Meadow Street in Florence, and he
probably moved his business here when the structure was built.
By the early 1870’s, the intersection of Main/North Main Street and Maple/North Maple Street in Florence had become
center of commercial activity. There were a couple of brick blocks, but mostly businesses were operated from small frame
buildings or attachments to residences.”
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.