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16 North Maple 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, 2011 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 17C-227 Easthampton NTH.116 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 16 North Maple Street Historic Name: Asa Squires Building Uses: Present: Offices Original: Commercial Date of Construction: ca. 1870 Source: Map of 1873 Style/Form: utilitarian Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: vinyl Roof: asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Siding added, windows replaced, wing added, n.d. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.157 acres Setting: This building faces east in the commercial center of Florence. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [16 NORTH MAPLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.116 _x__ 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 a one-and-a-half story building that is set on high brick foundations so that to enter the building at its first floor one must use the stairs at the south end of the full-width porch. The high foundations are a feature of the hardware store that is at 12 North Maple Street and was built at the same time. The higher foundations provided sufficient light to the basement to make it useable work and storage space for the utilitarian, commercial buildings. The building has a front-gable roof and its eastern façade is three bays wide. It has an accessible ramp with wrought iron railings. The porch has been altered and new turned posts that are thinner than posts created in the 1870s have been substituted. A one-story wing was added to the building on the south elevation and a shed roof dormer was added to the south roof, both increasing the interior space. The collection of commercial buildings at this area in Florence is an important part of its 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: “In 1867, the Williamsburg line of the New Haven and Northampton Railroad opened, connecting the village of Florence to the center of Northampton and the main north-south line located there. The tracks ran parallel to, and just north of Main and North Main Streets in Florence and a freight house and depot were built on North Maple Street. This was one of six wood-frame buildings on North Maple Street between Main Street and the railroad tracks owned by Asa Squires in 1873. These were probably all small commercial buildings erected since the advent of the railroad. Mr. Squires was a carpenter and possibly built all of these buildings.” 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. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [16 NORTH MAPLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.116 National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form Check all that apply: Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district Criteria: A B C D Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G Statement of Significance by _____Bonnie Parsons___________________ The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here. This property would contribute to a Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence Center is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around industry on the Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry that flourished through the Civil war as an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and Industry, a utopian community that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive slaves. It is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing Machine Company, which built its own housing. Architecturally the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library in the Revival styles of the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. The potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.