20 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
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): May, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32A-235 Easthampton NTH.2113
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 20 Pomeroy Terrace
Historic Name: Sylvanus Sherman House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: c. 1884
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Sylvanus Sherman, Builder, attributed
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
//
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.652 acres
Setting: This house is set on a ridge above the
flood plain of the Connecticut River on the east. It faces
west.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [20 POMEROY TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2113
_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.
This is a modest house that is stylistically transitional between the Italianate and the Queen Anne. It is two-and-a-half stories in
height under a steeply-pitched front-gabled roof. The main block of the house is three bays wide and has a full-width shed
roofed porch across its west façade. The porch rests on chamfered Italianate posts with arched braces at the eaves. The house
has a two-story ell on the east. On the south elevation of the ell is a cross-gabled bay. An angled bay of two stories projects
from the south elevation of the main block of the house and in between the two bays is a recessed porch two stories in height.
Italianate in style is the arched window in the gable field of the west façade but the overall complexity of the house’s plan and
elevation is newly Queen Anne.
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: “Sylvanus Sherman bought lot 3 of the Wright Estate Plan for the eastern side of Pomeroy Terrace.
These lots extended from Bridge Street southerly to M.M. French’s house, which was opposite Phillips Place. Easterly the lots
extended over the low bluff and into the meadows. This was one of the more ‘aristocratic’ neighborhoods in Northampton and
the lots were able to fetch prices as high as $1500, which is what Mr. Sherman paid. He was a carpenter and probably built this
house himself.”
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: Bk. 402-P. 409, 389-235, 388-225, 387-315
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [20 POMEROY TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2113
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 Sylvanus Sherman 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.