125 Pleasant 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
32C-165 Easthampton NTH.948
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 125 Pleasant Street
Historic Name: Union Station, Railroad Station
Uses: Present: restaurant
Original: railroad station
Date of Construction: 1895-1897
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette
Style/Form: Romanesque Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: granite, brick
Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone
Roof: red slate, asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Porch added, sheds and platform enclosed, ca.2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 2.42 acres
Setting: This building is set on a high lot behind a granite
embankment that lines Pearl Street. The rail trail passes on
its west side.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [125 Pleasant St.]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.948
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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.
Union Station is a one-and-a-half story yellow brick building under a red slate, pyramidal, hipped roof. Cross-gables wings
extend from the east and west elevations and a cross-gabled pavilion extends from the south façade. It shelters a projecting,
glass-enclosed entry. On the north is an ell nine bays long and one-and-a-half stories in height. It terminates in a round tower of
one-and-a-half stories. On the east and west sides of the ell roof are three flared, hipped dormers with copper cresting. On the
west elevation of the ell is a through-eaves exterior chimney that is paneled. The building’s roof ridges and frieze, modillion
blocks and cornice are of copper. On the south façade a copper-covered shed roof porch, with a round porte-cochere centered
on the main entrance, extends across the pavilion. It is supported on wood posts. An enclosed one-story addition occupies the
southwest corner of the façade. On the east and west elevations of the station are one-story platforms under hipped roofs.
They extend to the north beyond the station ell, effectively doubling its length. Now enclosed, these platforms have heavy
wooden posts with braces at their eaves. On the east they have been enclosed with cement blocks and on the west they have
been enclosed with wood and glass to provide public restaurant space. The first story of the brick building is no longer visible
due to enclosure of the platforms and addition to the south pavilion. At the second floor level the wings have Palladian window
compositions in the gables with brownstone straight lintels and sills. The second story windows of the ell have the same straight
brownstone lintels and sills.
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 1975: “The first railroad to come to Northampton was the Connecticut River Railroad, in 1845. The Canal Road
followed in 1855, and the Massachusetts Central arrived in 1887. The various railroad depots located in the Strong Avenue area
were incorporated into a single station at the turn of the century.”
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.