48 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-229 Easthampton NTH.2108
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 48 Pomeroy Terrace
Historic Name: Rev. Rufus Ellis House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: ca. 1847
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: flushboard
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Rear shed-roofed entry added, side porch enclosed on
south, south French doors infilled partially ca. 1990.
Condition: good
Moved: no | | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.233 acres
Setting:
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [48 POMEROY TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2108
_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 Rev. Ellis House is a fine Italianate style house, like most of its neighbors on Pomeroy Terrace and Phillips Place. It is a
flushboard-sided, two story house under a flat roof with wide, bracket-supported eaves. Centered on the roof is a glazed
belvedere with segmentally arched windows separated by paneled pilasters, a feature found elsewhere on these two streets.
The main block of the house is three bays wide on the west façade and the equivalent of three bays deep for a square plan.
First floor windows are full-length and all windows have eared architrave surrounds with projecting crown-molded lintels.
Windows have paired sash of mixed 2/2 and 1/1 lights. The sidehall entry on the west façade is sheltered by a flat roofed porch
that rests on paired Italianate posts on high pedestals and correspondent pilasters. Scroll-cut brackets ornament the bracketed
porch eaves. A railing has arch-shaped openings like its neighbor at 44 Pomeroy Terrace. A polygonal bay window is located
on the south elevation of the main block of the house. The house also has a two-story ell on the east with bracketed eaves. It
has a one-story enclosed side porch and added entry on its south elevation.
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 residence on Pomeroy Terrace was first occupied by Reverend Rufus Ellis who did not, however,
own the dwelling or the land on which it was built. Edward Clarke sold the land and house, ‘the premises… being the
homestead for many years past occupied by Reverend Rufus Ellis’ to Mary Ann Cochran in 1853. The Clarke family opened
Phillips Place in 1847 shortly following the death of Christopher Clarke, and lot 11 (48 Pomeroy Terrace) was vacant at that time.
(Registry of Deeds 119.201).
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: 378.427, 292.81, 275.49, 152.321
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [48 POMEROY TERRACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2108
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.
This 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.