28 Plymouth Avenue
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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
17C-182 Easthampton NTH.106
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 28 Plymouth Avenue
Historic Name: Joseph Wood House
Uses: Present: Single-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1911
Source: Street Directories 1910-1911
Style/Form: Queen Anne/Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder: Joseph Wood, Builder, attributed
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt shingled
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage barn/shop
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.37 acres
Setting: This house faces east at the end of a
short street that abuts a depressed former railroad line that
is now a rail trail.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [28 PLYMOUTH AVENUE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.106
___ 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.
The Wood House was built at the end of the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style periods and shows elements of both these
styles in it plan and elevations. The house is two–and-a-half stories under a side-gable roof and it has an angled cross-gable on
its east façade as well as a one-story glazed porch on its west elevation. This is the best-preserved house on the street and
maintains its historical features. From the Queen Anne style is the varied floor plan that provided multiple rooms on the int erior
and gave the exterior a measure of visual activity. The exterior of the house with its clapboards on first and second stories and
shingles in the gable ends above jetties and on the stacked porch’s solid railing and roof shows Queen Anne style as well.
However, the ornament that typified the Queen Anne has been traded for the classical forms of the Colonial Revival style, found
in the first floor porch supports that are Doric columns and the use of pediments in the porches. Leaded glass transoms were
used in both Queen Anne and Colonial Revival periods. Sash in the house is 1/1 and 2/2.
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: “Around the turn of the century, three short streets were opened north of Main Street and south of the
railroad tracks in Florence. These were Plymouth, Fairfield, and Sumner Avenues. This house was built at the end of Plymouth
Avenue, directly south of the tracks.”
Joseph Wood is the first listed owner of this house in 1911 and as he was a carpenter, it is probable that he built the house in
that year.
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.