177-179 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-059-001 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 177-179 Prospect Street
Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Two-family house
Original: Two-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1915
Source: Street Directories
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: vinyl
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added and windows replaced, ca. 2005
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.115 acres
Setting: This house faces west and is set close to
the street in alignment with neighbors.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [177-179 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 two-family house designed in the Colonial Revival style. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a gambrel roof that
becomes a pent roof between first and second stories in the gable ends. On its west façade the roof has dormers on both of its
slopes. On the lower slope are two shed roof dormers in the outer two of its four bays. On the upper slope is a centered shed
roof dormer between two un-fenestrated front-gables, which appear to be purely ornamental. On the lower slope the center two
bays are recessed so that there is not a lower slope of the roof. The vinyl-sided house is three bays wide and at the first story
on the west façade has a centered, shed-roofed porch flanked by two, shallow, three-sided bay windows. There are end wall
chimneys that lace through the pent roof and the main roof in the gable ends of the house. This is a fine decorative feature that
was often used during the Craftsman style period during the first decade of the 20th century.
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 section of Prospect Street, its northern section, did not develop until after the 1870s and gradually filled in through the 20th
century. This house was in place by 1919 and was occupied by Rose Casey, who was a teacher and the Bishop Brothers
carpenters. It is likely that the Bishop Brothers were the builders of the house and owned one half of the building, using it as an
office since they were still there in 1930. By 1940 the house was occupied by George Blake, who was a salesman and John
McCarthy who worked for a trucking, landscape and gardening company.
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.