94 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-264 Easthampton NTH.129
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 94 North Main Street
Historic Name: Joseph and Harriet Bush House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1867-1873
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added and windows replaced, ca. 2005
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.26 acres
Setting: This house occupies a full corner lot in a
residential section of Northampton.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [94 NORTH MAIN STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.129
___ 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 Bush House is a one-and-a-half story house under a front-gable roof. It is three bays wide and the equivalent of four bays
deep and it has a one-story ell on the south for a long, rectangular plan. The house has a Queen Anne style porch across its
north façade with turned posts supporting a shed roof and with arched braces at the eaves. A nice detail that raises the house
above the most ordinary is the use of full-length first floor windows on the north façade. Railings that were in place in 1980 have
been removed so that the windows are more visible, and this may have been the original appearance of the porch. There is a
small angled bay window on the east elevation of the house and a single, rectangular stair window. The house has a center
chimney.
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: “Joseph and Harriet Bush purchased 1 ½ acres from Polly Bosworth on the western side of North Main
Street in Florence for $800 in 1867. This house was probably built soon thereafter. In 1873, the property was sold for $3000
plus a mortgage of $1238.56 to Joel Burt. Mr. Burt, a farmer, lived here only a year before selling to John Smith, who likewise
only maintained the property for a year. In 1875, the Rev. Martin Chapin of Holyoke purchased this house and land and made it
his homestead. Rev. Chapin was connected with the Methodist-Episcopal Church in Florence, and sold the southern half of his
land to the church for $1, and contributed at least $1300 for the building of the parsonage thereon.”
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. 317-P. 333, 309-330, 303-151 ad 246-205