2 Pomeroy Terrace
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
FORM B − BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Please see Continuation Sheet.
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: PVPC
Date (month / year): May, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32A-239-001-
012
Easthampton
NTH.2117
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 2 Pomeroy Terrace
Historic Name: Draper House
Uses: Present: Twelve-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1895
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette 8/21/1895
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: Curtis G. Page, Architect
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles
Roof: asphalt, copper
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Carriage Barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.022 acres
Setting: This house faces west at the junction of
two streets.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [2 Pomeroy Terrace]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2117
_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 Draper House is one of Northampton’s highest style Queen Anne style houses. Its scale is grand, though its overall plan is
relatively simple. The main block of the house is two-and-a-half stories in height under a side-gable roof and attached to the
north elevation of the main block is a two-and-a-half story wing. Architect Curtis Page used a theme of intersecting elements to
offset symmetry and thereby create a picturesque and somewhat playful elevation. He designed a round tower for the
southwest corner of the house that rises three-and-a-half stories and partially intersects one of two cross-gables on the west
façade roof. Similarly, the north wing is attached so that it partially covers the gable field of the main block. Neither of these
features would have appeared in a conventional Queen Anne building. Page then used the repetition of pediments and gable
spandrel walls to unify his design. A stacked porch crosses the first floor level of the west façade and wraps around to the south
elevation. This porch’s flat roof rests on clustered, half-length columns above a solid railing. It has a frieze ornamented with
carved festooning and its entry is marked by a pediment whose tympanum is filled with carved floral ornament. The pediment is
repeated on the north wing where a secondary entry is sheltered by a porch with a front pediment marking the stairs and a half
of a pediment on its north side – once again an unexpected intersection. Both tympana are ornamented with carved floral relief.
The second story of the stacked main porch is front-gabled and its gable field has a spandrel wall as ornament in front of a
shingled field in which a diamond shape has been created in contrasting shingles. The use of the spandrel wall is repeated in
the cross-gables on the west façade roof, on the side gables of the main block and on the side gable of the wing’s north
elevation. An exterior wall chimney of brick and brownstone laces through the cornice behind the spandrel wall on the south
elevation.
Further ornament and visual activity is provided by contrasting clapboads and shingles on the body of the house and by the wide
frieze that surrounds the building and is ornamented with festooning. Trabeated window surrounds have wide friezes that have
festooning as well and mainly have 1/1 sash. The corner tower with its copper-covered bell-shaped roof is topped by a copper
pinnacle.
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 the Form B of 1975, “This magnificent Queen Anne residence was built in 1895 for John L. Draper, owner of the Mansion
House (later Draper Hotel), the major hotel in Northampton. Well sited at a bend in Route 9 (Bridge Street), the large dwelling
presents a many-gabled façade to the north and west. Curtis Page, architect of the Draper residence, was also responsible for
the design of the Hampton (Plaza) Hotel (1896) still standing at 79-83 Pleasant Street. These are the only Page works in
Northampton known of at the time of this writing. Page arrived in Northampton in 1893 and maintained an office in the city u ntil
1899, although Page himself moved to Springfield by that year.
The residence was designed under what were, for Northampton, unusual circumstances. J. L. Draper held a
competition; each of the three local architects submitted a plan and from these Draper made his selection. Such competitions
were rare occurrences in Northampton. The final design for public buildings like schools and churches were often selected from
a number of submissions: in 1876, eleven designs for the new First Church were presented; in 1894, eight plans were offered for
the new High School building;. In 1895, Draper received plans from H. R. Hayden, Putnam & Bayley, and Curtis Page. The
designs undoubtedly differed greatly: Hayden, successor to W. F. Pratt & Son, had a primarily residential and well-rooted
traditional clientele; Putnam and Bayley designed commercial, residential, and industrial buildings and had since 1893 captured
the lion’s share of the architectural work in Northampton and often secured commissions in surrounding towns. Page was a bit
more mysterious. Although listed in town directories as residing in Northampton, Page’s name seldom appears in the Gazettes
of the nineties. The Gazette also credits him with few designs at a period when residential building was considerable. That
which Page did design was monumental and rich. By 1899, Page was residing in Springfield and had probably transferred his
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [2 Pomeroy Terrace]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2117
business interests there where development of the suburbs made architecture more interesting and lucrative. As Page & Hayes,
Page maintained an office in Northampton.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [2 Pomeroy Terrace]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
NTH.2117
National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form
Check all that apply:
Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district
Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district
Criteria: A B C D
Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G
Statement of Significance by _____Bonnie Parsons___________________
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.
The Draper House would contribute to a potential Pomeroy Terrace historic district that developed south and east of
the Bridge Street Cemetery from the second third of the 19th century as Northampton’s finest residential district.
Original residents here were merchants, retired farmers, lawyers, and other professions. As the century progressed the
adjacent streets were laid out for the growing middle class with railroad personnel joining clerks, teachers, and others.
Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the fine examples of the 19th century architectural styles
from the Greek and Gothic Revivals, Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. The district includes
significant examples of the work of Northampton architect William Fenno Pratt. This potential historic district has
integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.