23 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-168 Easthampton NTH.650
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 23 Round Hill Road
Historic Name: William B. Hale House, “The Gables”
Uses: Present: Smith College building
Original: Single-family house
Date of Construction: 1860
Source: Early Northampton
Style/Form: Gothic Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Ell added on east, ca. 1940.
Condition: fair
Moved: no | | yes | x | Date 1880
Acreage: 1.28 acres
Setting: This building occupies a sloping lot on Round Hill
among institutional and residential buildings.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [23 ROUND HILL ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.650
_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:
This is one of Northampton’s finest Gothic Revival style buildings. It is a brick building, two stories in height under a steeply-
pitched, side-gable roof with a cross-gable centered on the west façade. In the angles made by the main roof and the cross-
gable are one-and-a-half story blocks with mansard roofs. The three main gables of the building have parapet walls; on the
north and south there are trefoil windows at the attic level and on the west is a rondel window. At the first and second stories,
windows have Gothic label lintels. On the cross-gable at the second floor is a recessed, ogive arched, double window. In the
corner blocks steeply-pitched, through-cornice dormers have pointed arch window compositions. Quoins mark all the building’s
corners. The main entry in the cross-gable has a recessed, segmentally arched door with no surround. It is sheltered by a full-
width porch on chamfered posts.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
(From the 1970/1980 Form B) This house was built in 1860 for William Hale. At that time Mr. Hale was cashier of the Holyoke
Bank, this was later reorganized as the First National Bank of Northampton and Mr. Hale rose to the Presidency. In 1880 A.L.
Williston bought the property and had the house moved south to its present location so he could have a new residence
constructed. The Hale House was occupied by Robert Williston, A.L.’s son.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire Massachusetts, New York, 1873.
Early Northampton, “Round Hill, Its History and Romance”, 1914, pp. 215-231.
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.
Northampton Directories: 1868-1869, 1875-1876, 1885-1886.
Northampton Atlas 1915 (Placeholder for exact title, author and details.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [23 ROUND HILL ROAD]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.650
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.