25 Prospect Street
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): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
31B-204 Easthampton NTH.677
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 25 Prospect Street
Historic Name: Talbot House
Uses: Present: Dormitory
Original: Dormitory
Date of Construction: 1909
Source: Smith College Archives
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick, stucco, shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.55 acres
Setting: Talbot Hall occupies a tree-shaded lot that is
shares on the east with other Smith College buildings.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25 PROSPECT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.677
_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.
Talbot Hall is a Colonial Revival style dormitory that is set on its lot with a relatively narrow façade and a long rectangular plan.
The building is brick on its first story with granite window sills, and stucco on its upper two and a half stories. It has a slate-
covered gambrel roof. The west façade is entered through a porch on brick corner piers with ornamental wood railings at firs t
and second story levels. There are two large cross gables on the south elevation. Each cross gable has solid barge boards and
is supported at its corners with braces. Five bays wide, the cross gables have centered, two-story oriels. A shed roofed dormer
that is slate-sided extends between the two cross-gables. The dormitory is a late version of the Colonial Revival style with its
gambrel roof but has Tudor Revival elements in its barge boards, brick and stucco exterior and bands of windows in its west
façade.
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 1977: “Talbot House was named after the family that originally owned this property and Capen House. Miss
Bessie Capen bought the Talbot property, established Capen School, and had Talbot House built in 1909. In many wa ys, Miss
Capen was one of the largest benefactresses to Smith College because she sent more than 900 of her 3600 students to Smith.
In addition, Miss Capen bequeathed most of her property to the College in 1921. At present, the house serves as a dormitory
which houses 78 women.”
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.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25 PROSPECT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.677
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 property would contribute to a potential Round Hill Historic District. This potential historic district is significant according to criteria A
and C and would have local significance.
The residential streets that cross Round Hill are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of development in Northampton from
the early 19th century (1807) through the 1950s. Residential development began on Round Hill with the establishment of gentleman’s estates
but grew with schools and a resort hotel until the 1890s when residential development increased significantly. From the 1890s through the
1950s (1959 McAlister Infirmary) Round Hill became home to Northampton’s wealthy and to the Clarke School for the Deaf.
Architecturally this area of Northampton is significant for the range of residential architectural styles including the Queen Anne and Colonial
Revival, and for its institutional buildings in the French Second Empire, through High Victorian Gothic and Colonial Revival styles ending
with the American International style. The potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.