137 Prospect Street
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FORM B − BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
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Topographic or Assessor's Map
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): April, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
24D-187-001 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 137 Prospect Street
Historic Name: Mrs. White House
Uses: Present: Single-family dwelling
Original: Single-family dwelling
Date of Construction: ca. 1870
Source: map of 1873
Style/Form: altered to Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: aluminum
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added ca. 1980
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.175 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot that
slopes down to the east.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [137 Prospect Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.
_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 one-and-a-half story house that is three bays wide and three bays deep under a front-gable roof. There is a one-and-a-
half story ell on the east followed by a separate garage. The house was enlarged by the ell and by a full-width dormer across
the north side of the roof, which effectively raises the house to two-stories on that elevation. The west façade has a side entry
sheltered by a Colonial Revival style pedimented portico on two Doric columns. The house has been sided in aluminum , which
obscures further details. .
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.
Prospect Street was one of the early streets in Northampton and first appears on the map of 1794. This section of it was not
developed into house lots until the middle of the 19th century. By 1860 there was a house on the lot and in 1873 it was owned by
Mrs. White. In 1910 Edward Blanchfield who was Northampton’s Registrar of Voters lived here. He shared the house in 1919
with Mrs. Catherine White who was a widow. In 1919 Blanchfield had become Superintendant of Sewers for Northampton. He
remained in the house, taking it over from Mrs. White, and in his job through 1940.
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.
Northampton Street Directories 1919-1940
U.S. Federal Censuses 1900-1930
Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884.
Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860.