57 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-129 Easthampton NTH.626
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 57 Prospect Street
Historic Name: Henry A. Kimball House
Uses: Present: Three-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1873-1884
Source: Atlases
Style/Form: Colonial Revival with Gothic Revival porch
Architect/Builder: William F. Pratt and son, architects
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: shingles
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.214 acres
Setting: This house occupies a tree-shaded lot
that slopes down to the east.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [57 PROSPECT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.626
_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.
The Kimball House is a Colonial Revival style, two-and-a-half story house under a truncated hipped roof. It has a shallow wing
on the north and a three-sided bay on the south but is basically a square plan house in the simplified Colonial Revival fashion.
The eaves are relatively wide and rest on a row of solid brackets that are meant to be an interpretation of modillion blocks but
are elaborated. The rise from a broad entablature. The shingled house is three bays wide and its center bay is occupied by a
three-story Gothic Revival style porch. Architect William F. Pratt was unconventional in his interpretation and mixed use of
styles, and this house is a good example of his imaginative approach to architecture. The porch rests on chamfered posts at
first and second floors and at the third floor thick posts support a Gothic trefoil arch. Typical of Pratt the entry to the third floor
porch is a Colonial Revival style Palladian window composition turned into a door and sidelights.
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: “This house was built in the early 1880’s for Henry Kimball, co-owner of the Kimball and Cary Company,
dealers in coal and wood. Mr. Kimball also served two terms as mayor of Northampton during the mid 1890’s. The house is
from designs of William F. Pratt and son. William F. Pratt was Northampton’s most prominent architect of the mid 19th century.
He was the son of Thomas Pratt, a master carpenter, and began his own business in 1835. He is responsible for the majority of
Northampton’s fine Victorian commercial blocks, and designed many local residences. In 1882, William F. Pratt Jr. joined the
firm, which continued until the early 1890’s. At that time, the business was sold out. The son continued as an architect, but
never had the impact his father did on the local environment.”
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] [57 PROSPECT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.626
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.