24-26 Orchard 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): April, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
25C-166 Easthampton NTH.398
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 24-26 Orchard Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Two-family residence
Date of Construction: 1897-1915
Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Vinyl siding and vinyl replacement windows, ca. 2005.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.197 acres
Setting: This house faces north on a residential street
adjacent to a major thoroughfare.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [24-26 ORCHARD STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.398
___ 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 two-and-a-half story, two-family house represents the extent to which generous proportions and complex volumes were
used for two-family houses in Northampton at the turn of the century, which yet remained residential in scale. The Queen
Anne/Colonial Revival style house has a front-gable roof with two chimneys on its ridge. Its north gable end has a jetty in its
gable field, a Queen Anne feature. Projecting from the north façade is an angled bay with a front gable in whose field is a second
jetty. A stacked, full-width porch crosses the north façade. At the second story the stacked porch section, one bay wide, has a
pedimented roof. This porch section has been enclosed and vinyl sided, but its paneled porch posts are still visible. At the first
story level the porch extends beyond the north façade and ends in a pedimented roof. It rests on battered posts that are
paneled and set on high pedestals. Battered posts here and at 21-23 Orchard Street reflect the builders’ awareness of the
Craftsman style whose battered posts were inserted in this much more conservative house. Two cross-gables rather than the
more common single cross gable extend from the east elevation and one from the west adding to the complexity of the floor
plan. The siding and replacement windows obscure and remove the building’s important details.
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: “Orchard Street was laid out about the turn-of-the-century along the eastern boundary of the Bridge Street
cemetery. Most of the street was developed with two-family houses, some of which were divided vertically (usually referred to
as double house), and some horizontally (usually referred to as two-family houses). This house is an example of the latter
method.”
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. 632-P. 270, 503-130 and 131