175 Prospect Street
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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): April, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
24D-060-001 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 175 Prospect Street
Historic Name: Mrs. Roach House
Uses: Present: Two-family house
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1860-1873
Source: maps of 1860 and 1873
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: aluminum
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added and windows replaced, ca. 1980
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.077 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot and faces west.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [175 Prospect Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.
___ 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 good example of a small Italianate style house, many of which have been lost in Northampton. It is one-and-a-half
stories in height under a front-gable roof and has a one-and-a-half story ell on the east. Now aluminum -sided the house would
originally have been clapboard-sided and more of its architectural details visible. The house is three bays wide and its west
façade is crossed by a full-width porch on chamfered Italianate posts with brackets at the eaves. There are no railings on the
porch, a design that was relatively common during the Italianate period in order to suggest an open Italian arcade. Sash is
mostly 1/1 replacement but in the west gable field is an original 6/6 sash. The house has an Italianate style, three-sided bay
window on the south and its eaves are thinly boxed and have wide eaves as was common during the period.
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.
This house appears clearly on the map of 1873 and in 1895 is the home of Mrs. Roach, for whom it is named. In 1860 it would
have been one of the last houses on the north end of Prospect Street as the street did not begin to fill in until after 1860. In 1910
the house was owned and occupied by Daniel Murphy and Mrs. Mary Murphy, who was a widow of Cornelius Murphy. Daniel
Murphy worked for the railroad as did a number of Prospect Street residents in the last third of the 19th century. Daniel Murphy
was still living here in 1930 and in 1940 he was replaced by James Lucey, who was a clerk.
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.