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17 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-220 Easthampton NTH.113 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 17 North Maple Street Historic Name: Cottage Hotel Uses: Present: multi-family residential Original: hotel Date of Construction: circa 1880 Source: Hampshire Gazette, March 26, 1901 Style/Form: French Second Empire Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboard Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.239 acres Setting: This building faces west in the commercial center of Florence. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [17 NORTH MAPLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.113 __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. The French Second Empire was a popular style at the turn of the century for residential and commercial buildings for the additional space it offered at the attic level and for its association with European architecture, which was considered sophisticated and worldly. In Florence it was well-represented as a style serving an industrial building on Bardwell Street, a number of houses of various sizes as well as this hotel. The building is two-and-a-half stories in height and as a large building it is five bays wide and three bays deep with enlarged proportions. The first story of the west façade has had alterations to the fenestration in its conversion to apartments, but it has retained a double-leaf center entry beneath a transom light and two secondary entries. It has a full-width porch on posts. At second floor level the windows have drip mold lintels and 2/2 sash. Dormer windows at the third story are inset into the lower angle of the mansard rood and have shaped reveals and pedimented lintels. The building has a one-and-a-half story ell on the east with a mansard roof whose details repeat those of the main block. 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 1976: “The Cottage Hotel was built by a Mr. Parker and sold soon after to George Nye of Springfield. In 1901, Mr. Frank Twiss bought the building. A well-known contractor at the Florence Sewing Machine Company, Mr. Twiss opened a bar in the hotel. In 1918, the hotel was partially destroyed by a fire and closed. In 1923, Cornelius Reardon reopened the hotel for the intent of housing both permanent and transient boarders. It was owned by Clifford Clark, a real estate broker who leased it to Mr. Reardon. It offered accommodations to workers employed in construction of the Veterans Hospital. The Cottage Hotel is known today as the Florence Inn. It is still a delightful place where fresh steamer clams can be enjoyed by the residents of the village. Most significantly, it has retained that particular air of flavor prevalent in early inns and taverns.” 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] [17 NORTH MAPLE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.113 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.