15 & 15A Park 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
31B-314-001 Easthampton NTH.637
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 15 & 15A Park Avenue
Historic Name: Asahel Abell House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1840
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: eclectic
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Large addition to house post-1895;
Condition: good
Moved: no | | yes | x | Date ca. 1895
Acreage: 0.252 acres
Setting: This house is set at the end of a dead end street
and it faces south.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [15 & 15A PARK AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.637
___ 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.
The Abell House is in two sections. The older section is a one-and-a-half story, front-gabled house whose south façade is three
bays wide. It has a side entry that is recessed and has a paneled intrados adjacent to two, full-length windows with 6/9 sash.
The recessed entry is Greek Revival in style, which is consistent with a construction date ca. 1840, however full-length windows
are Italianate style, and the date of 1840 is rather early in Northampton for the Italianate. They may have been a later alteration.
A shed roofed porch crosses the south façade and is supported by chamfered posts on high pedestals. The porch railing is
jigsaw-cut in an ornamental pattern that reproduces a Queen Anne style railing and was added to the house since 1980. At the
second floor level windows have architrave surrounds and 6/6 sash. Attached to the older section and set back on its east
elevation is a second section of house that is two-and-a-half stories under a hipped roof. This large wing is four bays long and
has a wide cross-gable dormer on its south façade. This wing also has a shed roofed porch on its south façade extending from
the angle between the two sections through three bays. The porch has identical posts and railings to the older, front-gabled
section of the house suggesting that the porches were added after the main house was moved to its current location and the
wing was added. In the four-bay façade the entry occupies the second bay from the east and has a flat door surround. Adjacent
to it on the west is a Colonial Revival style stair window with muntins in a diamond pattern. The wing of the house is three bays
deep and has a secondary entry under a shed roofed portico on its west elevation. Its windows have 6/6 sash that replace 2/2
sash that was present in 1980.
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: “In 1839, Asahel Abell bought ¾ of an acre on Lyman’s Lane (later Park Street, now Trumbull Road) for
$400. Mr. Abell was listed as an architect on the deed, but in all directory listings is referred to as a carpenter. He and his
brother Ansel Abell operated a combination saw and planning mill on lower Pleasant Street during the 1840’s.
This house was built as Mr. Abell’s residence, and he seems to have lived here until his death c. 1880. His widow,
Wealthy Abell, continued here until the early 1890’s. After her death, Porter Underwood, the owner of the property since 1866
when Hampshire Superior Court had set off the premises from Mr. Abell to settle a claim, had the house moved to the rear of the
property and sold the Park Street frontage as two building lots.”
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. 256-P. 72, 234-389, 86-22