268 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): April, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
24C-016-001 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 268 Prospect Street
Historic Name: Francis Stenson House
Uses: Present: Single-family house
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: ca. 1890
Source: map of 1895
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards/shingles
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Shed roof addition, ca. 1980
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.261 acres
Setting: This house is shaded by a large maple tree. It is
located on a busy street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [268 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 late Colonial Revival style house. It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a hipped roof on which
are hipped roof dormers on each elevation. The main block of the house is shingled and is only two bays wide. It has a full-
width porch across the north façade. The porch has a hipped roof that rests on large posts. Typical of the late Colonial Revival
the façade has a broad trabeated entry with sidelights and a three-part window composition. On the north façade windows are
paired under a single capped lintel and elsewhere they have capped lintels over single sash. There is a rondel stair window on
the east elevation. That elevation also has a shed roofed, one-story addition that is clapboard sided. Sash in the house is 1/1
replacement.
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 first appears on the map of 1895 as the J. Powers house and by 1919 is occupied by Francis and Mary Stenson and
their son William. Francis worked for the City although he had in 1900 worked as a mason, and William worked as a hod carrier,
presumably working to carry mortar with his father. All three of the Stensons were Irish immigrants and they lived in a
neighborhood with a large Irish and Scottish population. By 1910 Francis was working in a cutlery factory and William has left
the household to be replaced by his brother John. Ralph and Muriel Jager followed the Stensons in the house. Ralph had lived
with his parents on Dryads Green in 1920 but by 1930 had married and he and his father worked together as partners in an
automotive garage. Ralph’s father William lived with the couple along with their two sons. The house turned over by 1940 and
was owned by W. H. McCarthy who owned a business college.
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.