Bancroft Road 76.pdf
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. FORM B − BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Topographic or Assessor's Map Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: PVPC Date (month /year): March, 2010 Assessor’s Number
USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 24D-311 Easthampton NTH.357 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 76 Bancroft Road Historic Name: Richard Rice House Uses: Present:
single-family residence Original: single-family residence Date of Construction: 1915-1922 Source: Atlases and Directory Style/Form: Prairie Style Architect/Builder: Exterior Material:
Foundation: stucco surface Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.407 acres Setting: This house occupies a hillside lot that slopes steeply down to the west. It is a richly landscaped lot.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [76 BANCROFT ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.357 __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 Prairie style house with a hipped roof and center chimney. The wide
eaves overhang of the roof is supported by Italian Renaissance style brackets at its cornice. The main block of the house is four bays wide and two bays deep and has the off-center entry
favored by the Prairie style. An Italianate flat roof entry porch rests on slim, paired Doric columns. There is a hipped roof wing on the north elevation with a corner porch supported
on a single Doric column. Sash in the house is 6/2. There is one small front-gable dormer centered on the roof. This is an uncommon style in Northampton, which suggests that it may be
architect-designed. 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 the 1980 Form B: “Bancroft Avenue (originally known as Third Avenue) was laid out in its present form in 1885. A road somewhat similar
in orientation had existed since the early 19th century, but was probably much gentler in slope. Development was slow on the street and the 1915 map only shows three houses on the upper
portions of the street, east of Crescent Street. This house doesn’t appear on that map, but is listed in the 1922 directory. The owner was Richard Rice, a professor of English language
and literature at Smith College. “ 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. Northampton Directories, 1915 and 1922. Registry of
Deeds: Book 466 Page 387; Book 165 Page 529; Book 149 Page 311.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [76 BANCROFT ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.357 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. The Rice House would contribute to a potential historic district that extends north of Northampton’s primary corridor,
Elm Street, encircling and encompassing the primary feature of that landscape, Round Hill. The potential historic district is significant for its 19th century development from a few
gentlemen’s farms to a neighborhood dense with the homes of its most prominent residents and educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton for several hundred years
to the present. Richard Rice as a Smith College professor was part of that important educational history that shaped the character of Northampton. Architecturally the potential historic
district is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne style houses that were often architect-designed by the region’s most well-known designers.
This well-preserved house is a rare example of the Prairie style and reflects the progressive architectural thinking of many of the residents of Northampton. The potential historic district
has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.