25 Phillips Place
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
32A-198 Easthampton NTH.2086
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 25 Phillips Place
Historic Name: Erastus Slate House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1848-1854
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: flushboard
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Porch posts replaced; some windows replaced, post-1980.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.358 acres
Setting: This is a north-facing house on a short
residential street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25 PHILLIPS PLACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2086
_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 Italianate style house whose exterior is sided in flushboard to emulate the stone of an Italian villa.
The house has a front-gabled roof whose eaves make full returns to form a pediment and wide cornerboards rise to support a
narrow architrave and wide frieze that are separated by a molded fillet. The north façade of the house is three bays wide with a
sidehall entry beneath a pedimented porch on posts. These architectural features alone would make the house Greek Revival in
style, but first floor windows on the north façade are full-length, which, together with the flushboard siding, shift the stylistic
balance of the house to Italianate. Windows elsewhere in the house have been replaced with 1/1 sash where 6/6 would have
been more common historically. The porch posts replace earlier Italianate style posts with filigree work. At the time the 1980
survey form was completed the house was sided in asbestos or asphalt and it has since been carefully restored to its original
appearance.
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: “Phillips Place was opened in 1847 on land of the Clarke family. Edward Clarke began selling lots at the
same time and sold lot 17 to Erastus Slate in October 1848. The Slate Family owned this residence through most of the 19th
century. The street was first opened off of Hawley Street and with the opening of Pomeroy Terrace off of Bridge Street, a ne w
residential area was created, which quickly became the fashionable residential area of town.”
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. 125-P. 374, 120-483
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25 PHILLIPS PLACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2086
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.
The Slate House would contribute to a potential Pomeroy Terrace historic district that developed south and east of the
Bridge Street Cemetery from the second third of the 19th century as Northampton’s finest residential district. Original
residents here were merchants, retired farmers, lawyers, and other professions. As the century progressed the adjacent
streets were laid out for the growing middle class with railroad personnel joining clerks, teachers, and others.
Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the fine examples of the 19th century architectural styles
from the Greek and Gothic Revivals, Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. The district includes
significant examples of the work of Northampton architect William Fenno Pratt. This potential historic district has
integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.