179 South Street
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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): April 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
38B-80 Easthampton NTH.1008
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 179 South Street
Historic Name: Ferry House
Uses: Present: Two-family residence
Original: Single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1704
Source: Forbes library archives
Style/Form: First Period / Georgian
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Stucco over fieldstone
Wall/Trim: Clapboard
Roof: Asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
New windows, late 2000s
Condition: Good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 3.7 acres
Setting: House sits in a residential neighborhood of former
single family homes that have been converted to buildings
with two or more residential units.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [179 SOUTH STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.1008
_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 one of the oldest surviving houses in Northampton. The Ferry House is a two story side gabled home with clapboard
siding. It is three bays wide and one bay deep. This house exhibits features of First Period construction although it was mostly
likely constructed during the Georgian Period. First Period residences typically had a garrison overhang between the first an d
second stories (and sometimes between the second and attic stories), steeply pitched gable-end roofs with little to no eaves,
and large central chimneys that were often in clustered shapes. They also sat on a low fieldstone foundations. This house has all
of these features. The home’s original front entrance has been replaced since the home was first inventoried in 1970, although
the current replacement is very comparable to the original door surround. Windows on the home were replaced in the late 2000s
and are now six over six sash. There is a two story rear ell followed by a one story addition.
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: “This house was built in 1704. Purchased from the builder Preserved Clapp and given to Josiah Clark by
his father in 1744. After three generations of occupancy by the Clark family, it was inhabited by three generations of Ferrys—
one of the Clark daughters married a Ferry. The present owner, Mr. King, is a nephew of a Ferry. So the house has continued
in the same family without having been sold for over 200 years.
Originally a large farm of about 1000 acres went with the house, and cattle were driven to Boston. When built, there
was no other house on this side of Mill River, and the old Springfield Road went down what is now Fort Street.”
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.