40-42 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-004-001 Easthampton NTH.
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 40-42 Round Hill Road
Historic Name: Adams House
Uses: Present: Faculty housing
Original: Faculty housing
Date of Construction: 1891
Source: School history
Style/Form: Eclectic
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone
Roof: asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Sash replaced with 1/1
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 7.4 acres
Setting: This building faces south and is set on the
campus of the Clarke School.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [40-42 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.
Adams House is a two-and-a-half story, two-family house. It is eclectic in style. From the Colonial Revival comes the gambrel
roof with a gambrel roof front-gable while the brickwork is Queen Anne – sometimes referred to as “Panel Brick” when in
masonry – with corbelled roof cornice, stringcourses that act as continuous window sills and lintels. Queen Anne as well is the
porch on the south façade. It has turned post supports, a spindled frieze and railings with turned balusters. Windows are
segmentally arched and they have incised frames in a floral pattern. The house is six bays wide and three bays deep and
proportions are large.
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.
Adams House was built in 1891 for two of the Clarke School’s teachers and their families, one of whom was the wood shop
teacher. It was named for Frederick Adams, who was shop instructor at the school from 1916 to 1959. Coach Henry Wilhelm
and his family lived in the house as did Calvin Coolidge as a young lawyer in Northampton. It was here that he met Clarke
teacher Grace Goodhue, leading to their eventual marriage. In 1920 there were three teachers living in the house: Mary E.
Cobb who taught music and Archie T. Phillips, his wife Nell and their two children were in #40. Archie was a school steward.
and Fred Allen was in #42, though he doesn’t appear in the census that year. In 1930 #40 was vacant but Alice and Fred
Adams lived in #42. Fred was an instructor at the school and a cabinet maker and antiques dealer. Both units were vacant in
1940. In 1950 #40 was vacant and in #42 Henry E. Wilhelm, mentioned above, and his wife Janet were in the apartment.
.
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 ] [40-42 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.