22-24 Round Hill Road
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-165 Easthampton NTH.647
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 22-24 Round Hill Road
Historic Name: L. Clark Seelye House
Uses: Present: Single-family house
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1909
Source: Registry of Deeds, Atlas & Springfield
Daily Republican Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone
Roof: slate
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage
Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.916 acre
Setting: this house is set back from the street on a south-
sloping lot. It is set behind a circular driveway.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22-24 ROUND HILL ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.647
_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 Seelye House is a fine example of the Colonial Revival style. It is a two-and-a-half story house under a hipped, slate roof
on which is centered a stucco-sided front dormer. The house is three bays wide on its east façade and has a round portico on
Doric columns and respondent Doric pilasters. The portico has a pedimented entry. The main entry to the house is a broad
double-leaf door underneath an elliptical leaded glass fanlight and flanked by leaded sidelights. The house has been well-
detailed with corner brick quoins and a brownstone watertable, window sills and lintels. It has a projecting porch at the south
west corner that rests on Doric columns.
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 1909, the Rev. L. Clark Seelye bought almost an acre of land on the lower portion of Round Hill Road
and had this house constructed at a cost of $25,000.
Rev. Seelye came to Northampton in 1873 to assume the presidency of the newly formed Smith College. He had
previously been a professor at Amherst College and during the early 1860’s had been pastor of the North Congregational
Church in Springfield. As the first president, Rev. Seelye presided over the growth of what was to become this country’s most
prestigious college for women. He retired in 1910 to this house and resided here over his remaining years.”
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. 820-P. 363, 644-469
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22-24 ROUND HILL ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.647
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.