98 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
23A-151 Easthampton NTH.209
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 98 Pine Street
Historic Name: A. L. Williston House
Uses: Present: Six-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1865
Source: 1873 Atlas of Northampton
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt, architect,
Northampton Exterior Material:
Foundation: parged brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: metal, asphalt and slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding applied and windows replaced, ca. 1990
Condition: good
Moved: no | | yes | x | Date ca. 1880
Acreage: 0.558 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot in a
residential section of Florence
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [98 PINE STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.209
___ 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 once-grand, two-and-a-half story house is among the more complicated buildings in Florence. Its main block has a
gambrel roof to which is attached a three-story tower under a bell-shaped roof at its northeast corner, and on which is a shed
roof dormer three bays long on the west end of the roof. The main block is four bays wide. On its east elevation is a one-and-a-
half story wing under a side-gable roof. The wing on its north façade has a front-wall, cross-gable with a Gothic quatrefoil
window in its field. The main entry to the building is through the tower at the first story behind an added portico on posts. Its
door surround is a Gothic three-pointed molded arch, enclosing a glass and panel door. Above the entry is a round-arched stair
window with an arched label lintel. At the third story level on the east, north and west elevations are pairs of arched windows
under arched molded lintels. The vinyl siding obscures window surrounds elsewhere on the building and windows are
replacements, so this building does not truly reflect the work of architect William Fenno Pratt.
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 house, even though damaged by fire in the 1870’s, moved c. 1880 and altered during the mid-20th
century, still possesses enough of its original shape and character to be considered significant.
A. L. Williston was the son of John Payson Williston, a prominent Easthampton industrialist. The Willistons were also
involved in the Greenville Manufacturing Company, a cotton cloth manufactory in Florence, and thus owned much of the land
along the Mill River below the terrace. A.L. Williston had his house built from designs of W.F. Pratt, Northampton’s most
prominent architect of the 19th century. It was situated on the south side of Pine Street, at the top of the terrace. After a fire in
the late 1870’s, Mr. Williston moved to the center of Northampton, building a new house on Round Hill. The Round Hill house
was demolished during the early 1970’s.
Williston’s house in Florence was moved about 100 yards westerly after the fire and divided into tenements.”
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. 471-P. 286, 441-132, 402-365, 372-265, 352-403