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36 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): April, 2011 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31B-317-001 Easthampton NTH. Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 36 Round Hill Road Historic Name: McAlister Infirmary at Clarke School for the Deaf Uses: Present: Single-family house Original: Infirmary Date of Construction: 1959 Source: School history and owner’s research Style/Form: American International Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: concrete Wall/Trim: brick, ceramic-finish steel/polished and brushed aluminum Roof: not visible Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 1.095 acres Setting: This building is set back from the street on what was formerly part of the school campus. It is shaded by mature trees and its grounds are landscaped. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [36 Round Hill Road] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH. _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. McAlister Infirmary building is a one-story building, rectangular in plan beneath a flat roof. It is American International Style as it has the flat roof of the International Style and the absence of ornament, but it is built with varied materials rather than the spare white of the International Style. Although it does not have historically-derived ornament it is not without architectural details. The roof, for instance, is capped in aluminum. On the east façade it extends beyond the plane of the façade to create a slight overhang and the aluminum cap is in two strips and rounded at the ends. The end walls on north and south are red brick and there is a forward-sloping red brick wall extending from the east façade mid-way to mark the main entrance to the building. It reflects the streamlined, Moderne designs of commercial buildings of the time and is balanced on the opposite side of the entry by a rectangular brick wall. The house (as it is now used) has on each side of the entry ceramic coated steel panels in which are steel windows in bands and set individually. 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. This building was constructed in 1959 using steel components from American Bridge a division of U.S. Steel. Although American Bridge focused on bridge and large scale construction projects, it also was in the commercial building market constructing, for instance, the Mayo Clinic buildings in 1952 in Minnesota. Its ceramic-coated steel panels were based on the prefabricated Lustron Houses built between 1948 and 1950 as a low-maintenance solution to construction. The choice for McAlister Infirmary to be built using this technology was progressive for 1959 and promised a modern, largely prefabricated and therefore less expensive building for the school. It has a ramp across its east façade that is thought to have been the first or second constructed in Massachusetts and is solid concrete. This building is unique in Northampton and has a significant history both as to its architecture and for its use at the school. The building was organized so that the patients were upstairs and there was space on the lower level for nurses. The interior with its steel walls allowed partitions to be moved to re-arrange the infirmary spaces, if need be. 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 ] [36 Round Hill Road] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH. 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.