29 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): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32C-22 Easthampton NTH.931
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 29 Pleasant Street
Historic Name: Cook Block
Uses: Present: Offices, stores, and residences
Original: Offices, stores, and residences
Date of Construction: ca. 1890 (1889-1895)
Source: Registry of Deeds, 424.45 & 1895 Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: C.H. Jones, architect, Northampton
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick, limestone, wood
Roof: metal and not visible
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Windows replaced ca. 1980
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.72 acres
Setting: This building occupies a long corner lot in
downtown Northampton.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [29 PLEASANT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.931
_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.
The Cook Block is one of Northampton’s most distinctive commercial buildings. The brick building with limestone trim is three
stories in height, under a flat roof. It is three bays wide on its east façade and approximately thirteen bays long. The first floor
commercial space has a cast iron storefront, one of whose piers supports a recessed corner entry. The storefront has been little
changed from its origins with a sign band above the entry and glass storefront. At the second story level the east façade is
largely occupied by a broad arched window opening with three limestone blocks or voussoirs adding contrast to the brickwork.
The arch encloses four windows with double hung, 1/1 sash. In the spandrels of the arch are scroll-cut ornament. Limestone
stringcourses separate first and second and second and third stories and along the south elevation act to link the window sills
and lintels. At the third story are three bays with a centered paired window under a segmental arch flanked by two smaller
segmentally arched windows. Their lintels are limestone. On the south elevation of the building the corner lot allowed the
architect to add two oriel windows as architectural features that enhanced the design of the building. The easternmost oriel rises
three stories and is sided in a visually active combination of bands of shingles and carved ornament. The westernmost oriel is
smaller and does not rise above the roofline, but adds interest through asymmetry and a similarly patterned exterior.
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: “This block was erected on Pleasant Street shortly following the opening of Armory Street in 1889. B.E.
Cook and his son were the first owners of the block;
C.H. Jones of Northampton designed the block which originally contained stores, apartments, and offices. Jones, born
on Nantucket and a painter by trade, began to practice architecture in Northampton in 1871. The bulk of his work was
residential and in the Queen Anne style, but several hotels, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and the Lilly Library in Florence were
also his work.”
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, Hampshire County, 424.45