59 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): May, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32A-202 Easthampton NTH.2090
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 59 Phillips Place
Historic Name: Mrs. O. S. Clark House
Uses: Present: Four-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1848-1850
Source: Registry of Deeds 119.201
Style/Form: Greek Revival/Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, flushboard
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced, ca. 2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.354 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot at the
intersection of two residential streets.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [59 PHILLIPS PLACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2090
_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 Greek Revival style house whose builder showed awareness of the Italianate style by the use of an
arched window in the flushboarded tympanum of its front-gabled roof. The north façade of the house is three bays wide and it
has a sidehall entry. A hipped roof porch crosses the north façade and fluted Doric columns support a full entablature of
architrave, frieze and cornice. Windows in the house have been replaced with 1/1 sash. The house is three bays deep and
there is an angled bay window on the east elevation, a second Italianate style feature. A one-and-a-half story ell extends to the
south. It is four bays long, extending the length of the house considerably.
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: “This Greek Revival style residence was built in Phillips Place shortly after the street was opened in 1847.
Phillips Place was created in 1847 on land of the Clarke family and quickly became the fashionable residential area in the to wn.
The area was quickly populated by industrialists and merchants and the various Victorian residences have been well preserved
over the years.”
The 1873 map identification of the owners of this house is illegible and a check of the 1870 census for the neighboring houses
did not reveal a name that appears to match. However, by 1884 the house was in the ownership of the Hampden County bank
and in 1895 it was owned by Mrs. O. S. Clark.
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: 119.201
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [59 PHILLIPS PLACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2090
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 Clark 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.