Bridge Street 131.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: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Date (month /year):
March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 32A-243 Easthampton NTH.2121 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 131 Bridge Street Historic Name:
Josiah Parsons House Uses: Present: two-family house Original: single-family house Date of Construction: 1830-1860 Source: atlases of 1830 and 1860 Style/Form: late Federal/Greek Revival
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brownstone Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Ells on east added late
19th-20th centuries; three sided bay added ca. 1890. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Date Acreage: 0.601 acres Setting: Set close to the street, this is a south-facing house.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [131 BRIDGE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.2121 __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. The Josiah Parsons House is a late Federal, early Greek Revival style house, two-and-a-half stories
in height under a side-gable roof that is slate covered and has a small center chimney. From the Federal style is the center door surround composed of pilasters supporting an entablature
and framing a three-light transom. The door is four-panel. At the same time, the builder of the house took note of the Greek Revival style by making full returns of the eaves in the
west gable to create a Greek Revival pediment that was further developed with a flushboard tympanum, a means of suggesting the stone of a Greek temple. The house is a conservative three
bays wide and three bays deep and windows are relatively large in scale with 2/2 sash that would replace original 6/6 sash, and architrave surrounds. The house has had additions. One
of the earliest additions would be the three-sided bay window on the south façade. A second addition is the east wing with an asphalt shingle roof and an enclosed porch. The wing has
an added transverse gable bay at the second story representing several stages of alterations. This house represents the stylistic transitions that were taking place between 1830 and
1850 in Northampton. 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 occupants played within the community. From the Form B of 1974: “Josiah Parsons (d. 1899) was an early relative of the owner Josiah W. Parsons of 1974. The house has
been in the Parsons family for its whole existence. Assessor’s books trace the property back to 1867 when Isaac Clark sold the land to Josiah Parsons. The 1974 owner claims that Josiah
Parsons built the house in 1835.” The Deed of land from Isaac R. Clark to Josiah Parsons records purchase of a large and newly divided subdivision in 1867, but as is the case with land
deeds, there is no mention of buildings. Isaac Clark first appears by name in Northampton in the 1860 US Census. 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. Registry of Deeds, Hampshire County. Book 5470, Page 288; Book 4945, 248; Book 4711, Page 263; Book 4618, Page 93; Book 4603, Page 261; Book 3533, Page
50; Book 1374, 346; Book 1009 Page 32; Book 833 Page 250; Book 648 Page 27; Book 647 Page 214; Book 312 Page 135.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [131 BRIDGE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.2121 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 Parsons House would contribute to a potential Pomeroy Terrace historic district that developed south and east of the
Bridge Street Cemetery from the second third of the 19th century as Northampton’s finest residential district. Original residents here were merchants, retired farmers, lawyers, and other
professions. As the century progressed the adjacent streets were laid out for the growing middle class with railroad personnel joining clerks, teachers, and others. Architecturally the
potential historic district is significant for the fine examples of the 19th century architectural styles from the Greek and Gothic Revivals, Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival
styles. The district includes significant examples of the work of Northampton architect William Fenno Pratt. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting,
design and materials.