20-22 Paradise Road
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
31A-256 Easthampton NTH.561
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 20-22 Paradise Road
Historic Name: Misses Allen House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1867-1873
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Gothic Revival/Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboard
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Attached garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.248 acres
Setting: This house faces west overlooking the
Smith College Quadrangle. On its east is Paradise Pond.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22 PARADISE ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.561
_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.
This is a two-and-a-half story house that has both Gothic Revival and Italianate style features. It has a side-gable roof with an
Italianate centered cross-gable on the west façade. In the cross-gable field is a pointed arch window that is a Gothic Revival
architectural detail. Pointed arch windows are also found in the gable fields of the north and south elevations. The main block of
the house is three bays wide and has a porch on posts sheltering its center entry. The porch has a roof balustrade and at the
second story a door gives access to the porch. The entry surround has a projecting Italianate cornice that is repeated on the
window surrounds of the first story. There is an angled bay window on the south elevation of the main block and on the north is
a porch on posts. Extending from the east elevation are two, two-story ells, the second of which has a side porch on its south
elevation followed by an attached garage.
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: “Paradise Road was opened in the late 1860’s by J.C. Ward. Development was slow and here were only
three houses built by 1873. This was one of the houses and was owned by ‘Misses Allen.’ They do not seem to have lived here
though until the early 1890’s.”
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. 244-P. 409
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22 PARADISE ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.561
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 potential historic district that would encompass the residential/institutional side
streets laid out on the south side of Elm Street in Northampton Center between Main Street on the east and the west
boundary of Childs Park on the west. This potential historic district is significant according to criteria A and C and
would have local significance.
These residential streets are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of the development of
Northampton from the mid-19th century as a relatively affluent community that supported several private schools for
young women, which prepared them after 1875 for attendance at Smith College, and the Clarke School where deaf
students were given an education that thoroughly prepared them for the hearing world. The residences in this area
made a shift from gentlemen’s estates to accommodation of the growing middle class in Northampton during the 19th
century with businessmen, scholars, teachers, doctors, and retired farmers.
According to criterion C this district would be significant for the range of historical styles that it includes. Gothic
Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles are all well-represented within a
landscape of individual large lots, and streetscapes that were laid out and developed at one time.