256 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: Jayne Bernhard-Armington
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): June, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32C-172 Easthampton NTH.951
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 256 Pleasant Street
Historic Name: Northampton Lumber Company
Uses: Present: Lumber yard offices
Original: factory building
Date of Construction: 1850-1880
Source: visual evidence
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Brick
Wall/Trim: Brick
Roof: Asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows altered, n.d.
Additions made, n.d.
Condition: Good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.393 acres
Setting: This building faces west on a busy street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [256 PLEASANT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.951
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
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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.
This is a two-and-a-half story brick building with front gable roof that makes returns. The building is three bays wide and in its
gable field is a rondel window with four keystones. At the second floor are three windows with pained stone sills and lintels and
at the first floor level is a recessed, arched, center entry flanked by two large square openings that have been filled in. Above
the first story windows is a copper pent roof resting on brackets. On its north elevation the building has several wing additions
with synthetic siding that may hide earlier origins. On its south elevation it appears to be about four bays deep but a closely
positioned second building hides that elevation. Alterations have obscured this building’s original appearance 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: “These brick factory structures date from the period of industrial prominence of Northampton and
surrounding towns. Several similar groupings of industrial buildings are located in the area bounded by Pearl, Pleasant, and
Holyoke Streets and the B & M Railroad bed. The structures are characteristically simple rectilinear forms, several stories high
but predominantly horizontal in emphasis. Chimneys are large and prominent. A series of industrial concerns located on the site
in the nineteenth century, including the W. H. Clapp Iron Foundry, and the Harlow Planing Mill.”
The building was associated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles Building during the second half of the twentieth century. The
building was sold in early 2010 and has been undergoing remodeling for commercial use.
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.