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134 — 138 South Street 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 38B-084 Easthampton NTH.1012 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 134 – 138 South Street Historic Name: Colonel Elisha Strong House Uses: Present: Three unit residence Original: Single family residence Date of Construction: 1713? Source: Court House Records Style/Form: Georgian Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: Brick and round fieldstone Wall/Trim: Clapboard Roof: Asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: Good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.52 acres Setting: House sits close to the busy South Street/Route 10. House is in a residential neighborhood of former single family homes that have been converted to buildings with two or more residential units. Mature trees are in the front yard. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [134 SOUTH STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.1012 __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. This is a two-and-a-half story Georgian style home with truncated hipped roof. Form B suggested a date of 1713 for this home with a question mark. For this reason, additional research should be conducted to more accurately determine the date of this home. Characteristic of the Georgian style, the windows are symmetrically ranked on the five bay front façade, second story windows sit close to the roof eaves, and there is a large center chimney. At the center of the five bay facade is a Federal s tyle entrance flanked by slender pilasters, then sidelights and then another set of slender pilasters, which may have been a later alteration. This is capped by an entablature with projecting cornice. W indows of the house are have two over two sashes, which would have been a late 19th century alteration to the home. The sides of the house are two bays wide and there is a one-and-a- half story rear addition on the eastern side that also has a brick chimney. The house also sits on a very low foundation comprised of fieldstone and brick. Between 1998 and 1999 the house converted into three condominium units. 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 1970: “South Street is one of Northampton's earliest roads and today contains the largest number of pre-19th century houses in the city. The street, originally on the western side of the Hill River (changed during a WPA project), was first permanently settled around 1700, and was quickly built up with homesteads, lining both sides of the street. Those on the southern side extended back over the river bluff and down into the meadows. The first known owner of this house was Colonel Elisha Strong. He was born in 1779 and died in 1849 and was of the sixth generation of the descendants of Elder Ebenezer Strong, son of Elder John Strong, both of Northampton and among its original settlers. Colonel Elisha's grandfather was Sergeant Jonathan Strong (1708-1774), whose homestead on lower South Street remained in the Strong family for five generations. Colonel Elisha was born in this earlier house, married Mary Fowler in 1806 and had seven children. He is described as a farmer, also selectman and county commissioner for many years, several times a member of the Mass. Legislature and a prominent man in the town. We know he was living on this homestead in 1818 when his second child, Elisha, was drowned in the river. In 1849 Colonel Strong died and the house was inherited by his son, Henry Strong II. Henry only held onto the homestead for a few years, and, after passing through two other short term owners, the property was purchased by George L. Wright in 1863 for $2500. Until very recently the property remained in this family.” 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. 1794 and 1831 Town Maps. 1854 County Maps. 1915 Atlas Antiquities, Historicals and Graduates of Northampton, S, Clark, l882, p. 53. History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong of Northampton, B. Dwight, p.1160 Registry of Deeds: Bk. 766-p. 75, 209-393, 185-141, 180-374 , 131-48.