60 Norwood Avenue
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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, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
30B-2 Easthampton NTH.429
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Bay State
Address: 60 Norwood Avenue
Historic Name: Thomas Purseglove House
Uses: Present: Single-family house
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1885
Source: Atlas and Directory
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Shed
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.5 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot on the lower
slopes of a hill giving it a certain prominence in the
landscape.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [60 NORWOOD AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.429
___ 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 two-and-a-half story Queen Anne house that is in a typical form for the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The main
block of the house is L-shaped in plan under a gable roof, and there is a one-story, shed roofed ell on the west. A porch crosses
the building’s two sections on the east and south. A shed-roofed porch, it has narrow post supports, small brackets at the
eaves and in its roof spandrels it has ornamental shingles in Queen Anne style. There are shingles in the gable ends of the
house as well. The house is more notable for its large proportions than for architectural ornament, however. Its tall windows are
nearly full-length on the first story and there is a mixture of 1/1 replacement and 2/2 original sash in windows throughout the
house.
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: “Norwood Avenue was laid out in two sections from Main Street (now Riverside Drive) to Walnut Street,
the first being in 1872 and the second in 1883. The northern end of the street was elevated approximately fifty feet above the
southern end and provided fine vistas south to the Mount Tom Range. The area was predominantly inhabited by employees of
the two cutlery companies located near here on the Mill River.
The first known owner of this house was Thomas Purseglove, a cutler with the Northampton Cutlery Company, who was
first listed here in 1885.”
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.