18 Park 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
23A-15 Easthampton NTH.162
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 18 Park Street
Historic Name: Kyle Estate
Uses: Present: Eight-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1865
Source: 1884 Atlas of Northampton
Style/Form: Gothic Revival and Exotic Revival
Architect/Builder: Charles Jones, Architect,
Northampton Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: board and batten, shingles, clapboards
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage Barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Rear deck added ca. 1980
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.797 acres
Setting: This house faces east on a tree-lined
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 PARK STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.162
_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 house is unique in Northampton and probably in all of western Massachusetts. It is two-and-a-half story house under a
front-gable roof. It has a cross-gable that terminates in a polygonal tower under a truncated hipped roof on the south and a
hipped roof wing on the north. The east façade is three bays wide and is crossed by a two-story porch that wraps around to the
north elevation. The first story of the house is clapboard-sided, the second story is board-and-batten sided, and the third story of
the tower and the area of the gable above a jetty is wood shingle sided. The second story and attic level made up the original
house that was Gothic Revival and maintain that style. A narrow Gothic Revival bargeboard ornaments the front gable. The
porch, which was added when the house was raised a story, rests on the first story on paired Italianate chamfered posts, and
Eastlake incised brackets support a spindled frieze. There are no railings on the first story of the porch. The second story of the
porch crosses the east façade only and has a shallow shed roof. Lattice work posts with incised rosettes at their tops support
the roof. The three bays of the porch are framed in shaped oval arches springing from railing level. The spandrels between the
arches and the posts are lattice-filled. This porch ornament follows no classical models but refers, if obliquely, to the Oriental
Revival, suggesting Middle Eastern design.
Quite different in inspiration is the carriage barn. It is two-and-a-half stories under a side-gable roof and has a centered, front-
gable. The first story is recessed and the east façade is supported on braced posts. Attached to the northwest corner of the
barn is a large round tower that has a fieldstone first story, shingled second story, a shingled third story in a different pattern and
fenestrated with a band of arched windows. The tower roof is bell-shaped.
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 1976: “Francis Rosbrook bought 4 ½ acres on ‘Old Oil Mill Road’ from Samuel Hill in 1850 for $300. Two years
later, he sold half of the premises with a ‘dwelling house’ back to Mr. Hill for $1000. The property was passed through three
other owners before being purchased by Oscar Kyle in 1884. Mr. Kyle was treasurer and manager of the Florence Machine Co.
and soon after purchasing the property had local architect Charles Jones ‘remodel’ the old cottage.”
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. 410-P. 337, 171-362, 154-255, 144-184, 144-182, 133-451
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 PARK STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.162
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 Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence
Center is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when
it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at
a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around
industry on the Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the
intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry that flourished through the Civil war as
an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and
Industry, a utopian community that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence
their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive slaves. It
is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing
Machine Company, which built its own housing.
Architecturally the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second
Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library in the Revival styles of
the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. The
potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [18 PARK STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
NTH.162