2-18 Randolph Place
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: Jayne Bernhard-Armington
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): June, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32C-163 Easthampton NTH.2147
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 2-18 Randolph Place
Historic Name: Randolph Place Row
Uses: Present: Seven Unit Apartments
Original: Sixteen Unit Apartments
Date of Construction: circa 1890
Source: 1895 Atlas & Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Stone
Wall/Trim: Clapboard
Roof: Asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: Fair
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 1.37 acres
Setting: Apartment rowhouse sits very close to the street
in a commercial and multifamily housing neighborhood. A
few shrubs line the building.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [2-18 RANDOLPH PLACE]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2147
___ 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 circa 1890 Randolph Place Row is located off one of Northampton’s historic commercial and industrial corridors. This circa
1890 apartment block is one of at least six blocks in Northampton that follow similar Queen Anne designs. The building is two-
and-and-half stories in height under a side-gabled roof; however, the northeastern corner of the building, which faces Pleasant
Street, has a jerkin head roof. The repetitive use of two-story, three sided bays and shed roof dormers down the length of the
northern elevation apartment building divides the apartment block into seven sections. The first section, which consists of the
portion of the apartment block closest to Pleasant Street, is somewhat dissimilar from the other six sections in that the three
sided bay is three stories tall and is topped by a steeply pitched pyramidal roof to form a tower. In addition, the first section
includes a single entry under a shed roof porch while the remaining six entries are paired. The small porches have turned posts
and solid balustrades. The other bays also have short extensions of the roof's front slope covering them. The roof line on the
northern elevation is broken by ten twin shed dormers with double windows. On the southern elevation, there are seven shed
roof dormers. There are eight chimneys—four are located along the ridge of the roof while the remaining four are located along
the southern slope of the roof, which take the place of what otherwise would have been shed roof dormers. The block is
clapboard sided and rests on a stone foundation. Trim on the block consists of a vertical board frieze under the eaves, wide
board beltcourses, shingled skirts on the bay windows between the first and second stories, and paneled bases to the bay
windows.
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 the Form B of 1980, “The Randolph Place Row is one of the few examples of the Victorian rowhouse in Northampton.
There are a few apartment buildings, but these were built in the 20th century. Unlike other industrial communities in
Massachusetts that rose in the 19th century, Northampton and its villages of Bay State, Florence and Leeds didn't have long
rows of worker housing. The one example of a pre-Civil War rowhouse is in Bay State on Riverside Drive. All of the other
rowhouses were constructed in the last two decades of the 19th century and are located near the center of town. Of those
consisting of at least five units, two are built of brick and five are wood frame construction. This rowhouse was built shortly after
1888 when Dwight Horton acquired the Cook homestead on Pleasant St. Mr. Horton was a dealer in fertilizers, agricultural
chemicals, land plaster, Agricultural lime and salt, and hardwood Canada ashes. He was also a real estate agent. He had
Randolph Place opened and had two double houses built on the street (only one of which is standing) as well as this seven-unit
row. Mr. Horton made the corner unit of the rowhouse (no. 2) his residence.”
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. 417-P. 257.
Northampton Directory: 1895-96.