154 North 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
25C-9 Easthampton NTH.384
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 154 North Street
Historic Name: Joseph Lyman-Isaac & Martha Bates
House Uses: Present: Three-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1799-1807
Source: Registry of Deeds, 14.487, 25.586
Style/Form: Federal
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick visible
Wall/Trim: asphalt siding
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding applied, porch removed, chimney(s) removed, n.d.
Condition: fair/poor
Moved: no | | yes | x | Date ca. 1848
Acreage: 0.213 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot and
faces south.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [154 NORTH STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.384
___ 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 fine, high style Federal house that ranks among the best in Northampton though its condition is compromised. The
house is two stories in height under a low-pitched hipped roof on which only one chimney remains, though there would have
been at least two originally. The five bay south façade has a center pavilion in which at the first story is a double leaf entry under
a transom and framed by an architrave surround. At the pavilion’s second story is a Palladian window composition beneath a
pediment. A row of dentils ornaments the cornice and pavilion’s raking eaves. The high style features of the house include first
floor windows that have lintels with pulvinated friezes. Sash has been replaced with vinyl. The current porch is Italianate in style
and would have been added to the house ca. 1850. A ghost remains between first and second stories of a full-width porch that
also is likely to have been a later addition.
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 1975: “This delicately detailed residence first stood on Bridge Street and was moved about 1848 by J.S.
Lathrop. Martha Bates, widow of Senator Isaac Bates, sold the property to J.S. Lathrop in March of that year for $4000. On the
two acres on Bridge Street, J.S. Lathrop soon built the residence still standing known as the Lathrop-Butler House.
Although known as the Isaac Bates House, the residence relocated on North Street was apparently not built for Bates.
Bates purchased a lot—then one acre—with buildings from Joseph Lyman in 1807 for $3000; Lyman acquired the property in
1799 for only $500. A house of this quality and style would likely have been built between the dates 1799 and 1807 in
Northampton.
Senator Bates served in the state and U.S. senates. His widow, Martha Bates, lived in the residence for a number of
years following its removal to North Street.”
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, Hampshire County, 122.364, 25.586, 14.487