4 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): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
25C-160 Easthampton NTH.397
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 4 Orchard Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1895-1915
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: Chester White, Builder, attr.
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: asbestos shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added, ca. 1970; windows replaced, ca. 2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.342 acres
Setting: This house occupies a lot with a large side yard. It
is on a residential street with both single and two-family
houses.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [4 ORCHARD STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.397
___ 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, Queen Anne style house appears to have been constructed by the same builder who was responsible
for a number of similarly designed houses in Northampton, Chester White. With small variation this house resembles the
Chester White House at 222 Bridge Street, for instance. The house has a pyramidally hipped roof with cross-gables on the
north and east and a three-story tower in the angle between the main block and the east cross-gable. Characteristic of White’s
towers, the roof of the tower has an exaggerated bell profile. Adding complexity to the elevation, the north the cross gable has
a jerkin head roof. A hipped roof porch on posts extends on two sides of the tower. It has jigsaw-cut braces and railings, and its
apron is also ornamentally cut adding visual activity favored by the Queen Anne style. A second, two-story porch is located on
the east elevation where the posts, braces and railings are repeated. Typical of the houses that are known to have been built by
White, there is a large, fixed light window on the north façade.
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: “A plan for Orchard Street and residential lots was filed in 1897 by Sidney A. Clark and Josiah S. Graves,
owners of adjacent Bridge Street homesteads, and H.R. Hinckley, the owner of a large parcel of land off North Street. The street
was quickly developed, mostly with two-family residences.”
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. 503-P. 130 and 131