61 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-261 Easthampton NTH.565
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 61 Paradise Road
Historic Name: Rev. Cyrus Pickett House
Uses: Present: Seven-unit residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1884-1895
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: High Victorian Gothis
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.409 acres
Setting: This house occupies a raised corner lot
and faces east towards Paradise Pond.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [61 PARADISE ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.565
__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 well-preserved High Victorian Gothic house that is two-and-a-half stories in height under a steeply-pitched, side-gable
roof with wide eaves, no returns and a broad frieze. Centered on the three bay east façade is a projecting pavilion. The entry is
in the pavilion and consists of double leaf doors below a large transom light. Across the east façade is a full-width porch on
posts with a jigsaw cut railing and Eastlake brackets at the eaves. The porch apron is made up of a broad framework within
which are jigsaw cut panels. Adding to the interior volume is an angled bay window on the north elevation of the house and a
two-story west ell. Windows in the house on the first story have straight brownstone lintels but on the second floor and attic
levels are segmentally arched.
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 had been laid out in the late 1860’s as the first development in the area west of Elm
Street, bound by the Mill River. However, there was not much construction here until the late 1880’s, when several other streets
were laid out through the old Elm Street homesteads.
This large brick house first appears on the 1895 atlas as the property of the Rev. Cyrus Pickett. Joseph Pickett, one of
the co-founders of the Northampton Commercial College, and his son John C. Pickett are also listed here, as boarders.”
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.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [61 PARADISE ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.565
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.