26-28 West Center 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
Please see attached map.
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): March, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
23A-48 Easthampton NTH.175
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 26-28 West Center Street
Historic Name: Graves Brothers House
Uses: Present: two-family house
Original: single-family house
Date of Construction: 1873-1884
Source: maps of 1873 and 1884
Style/Form: Italianate
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick
Wall/Trim: brick and granite
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Converted to two-family with additional entry on west
elevation ca. 1900.
Condition:
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.39 acres
Setting: This house is on a narrow, residential street lined
with mainly 19th century houses.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [26-28 WEST CENTER STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH. 175
___ 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 few brick houses in Florence’s center. It is a two-and-a-half story building under a side-gable roof. It is set
sideways on its lot so that entries are located on both its eastern and western elevations. Somewhat utilitarian in appearance,
the house has a corbelled cornice beneath its eaves, an arched Italianate window in its north gable and straight granite lintels at
its windows. The house is three bays wide and two bays deep and windows have 6/6 sash. There are two interior chimneys at
the roof ridge. The added entry on the east is clapboard-sided and is one story in height. Its original entry is on its west
elevation and is brick and one-story in height.
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.
According to the inventory Form B of 1976, ”Florence developed in the mid-nineteenth century as a manufacturing center and
progressive community. The Northampton Association of Education and Industry, a utopian community (1841-1847), was
important in the village’s growth and orientation.”
This property was dated ca. 1850 on the earlier form, but a check of the map of 1873 shows that the property was un-built upon
at that date and owned by J. Birge. It wasn’t until 1884 that this building appears as the property of the Graves Brothers. At the
time the atlas of 1895 was drawn, the Graves brothers had added a livery stable to the property on its east side. That building is
now gone.
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] [26-28 WEST CENTER STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH. 175