159 Pine Street
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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): May, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
22B-32 Easthampton NTH.149
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 159 Pine Street
Historic Name: Samuel Porter House
Uses: Present: apartment building
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1885
Source: Atlas and publication
Style/Form: utilitarian and Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt and Son,
architects, Northampton Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick and concrete
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Apartment block added to building, ca. 1960.
Condition: good/fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.368 acres
Setting: This building occupies a corner block
across the street from a former public school.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [159 PINE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.149
___ 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 Porter House is the older of this two-section building. It is a two-and-a-half story, red brick building under a front-gable roof.
Centered on what is visible of its south façade is a three-story angled bay under a polygonal roof. Queen Anne in style, this
section of the building is red brick with stringcourses extending through the window lintels between stories. The stringcourses
are made up of tarred bricks and corbelled bricks. Window sills and lintels are contrasting brownstone and the angled bay has
decorative panels beneath its second story windows. At its third story the angled bay has an open wood porch on turned, half-
length supports with brackets at the eaves and a cutwork railing. Unfortunately, attached to the southwest section of the former
house is a large apartment building, two stories in height under a flat roof. It obscures the architect-designed house without
contributing architecturally to the composition.
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: “Mr. Porter was the superintendent of the Nonotuck Silk Co. and also served president of the Florence
Savings Bank. Thus, he was in a position to have his house designed by the firm of William F. Pratt and Son. Mr. Pratt was
Northampton’s most prominent and prolific architect of the second half of the 19th century. He began his own business is the
late 1830’s after working with his father, Thomas Pratt, the master carpenter for a number of years. In 1882, he admitted his son
William F. Pratt, Jr. into a partnership. It is unknown which member of the partnership played the major role in the Porter
House.”
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.