274 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): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
24C-17 Easthampton NTH.276
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 274 Prospect Street
Historic Name: James Lyons House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1892-1895
Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: clapboards/shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.162 acres
Setting: This house occupies a corner lot at a busy
intersection in a largely residential section.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [274 PROSPECT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.276
___ 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-and-a-half story Queen Anne style house under a front-gable roof. It has a south ell of two stories and a cross-
gable bay of two-and-a-half stories on its west elevation. The house has a shed roofed porch on chamfered Queen Anne posts
with brackets at the eaves on the north façade. On the west elevation in the angle between the ell and the cross-gable bay is a
secondary porch under a shed roof. It also has chamfered porch posts. Half of the porch has been enclosed. The house has
pedimented dormers on the east and west elevations to add interior volume. The exterior has clapboards on the first and
second stories and decorative shingles in the gable fields, as was typical of the Queen Anne.
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 1980: “In 1892, Michael Lyons, a policeman, and his wife Mary, purchased about 1/3 of an acre at the corner of
Prospect Street and Massasoit Street for $700. By 1895, Mr. Lyons had divided the land in half, selling the northern half, at the
intersection to James Lyons, a polisher at the Central Oilgas Stove Co. in Florence, and keeping the southern half on Massasoit
Street for himself. The 1895 atlas shows houses for both of these lots, and also shows that his area along Prospect Street had
become very Irish in character.”
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.
Registry of Deeds: Bk. 449-P. 27