Crafts Avenue.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 31D-167 Easthampton NTH.795 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: Crafts Avenue Historic Name: Northampton
Gas Light Company Uses: Present: commercial space Original: gas plant and storage building Date of Construction: 1856 Source: History of Northampton Style/Form: utilitarian Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage:
under 1 acre Setting: The gas works building is set at the foot of a hill in Northampton center.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [CRAFTS AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.795 _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 gas works building is composed of two sections: a one-story, round gas holder building under
a tall, circular slate roof with a round cupola at its peak, and a two-story, square, brick gas plant building with an irregular, slate-covered, roof form. The two sections are attached
by a short connector at second floor level. The circular gas holder has entries on the south and east and the gas plant has an entry on the south. Walls of the gas holder are paneled
into story-high bays that are slightly recessed. Centered on several of the bays are square-headed windows with 6/6 sash. The building has a corbelled cornice below its eaves and a cupola
with narrow windows letting light to the interior. The gas plant has irregularly placed, segmentally arched windows on it south façade and two stories of three bays on its west elevation.
Windows have 6/6 sash. This building with its two sections is an architectural landmark in Northampton representing a rare survival of a very specific industrial building type. 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 1974: “The Northampton Gas Light Company was organized April 18, 1855. In 1856, the town was illuminated with gas. Prior to this, homes were only lit with
kerosene and ‘burning fluid.’ The original charter issued in 1853 to William Stoddard, Samuel Fisk, and Daniel Kingsley. The works were completed in 1856 at a cost of 35,000 dollars.
Capital was $50,000. The first places served were on Shop Row, and by 1895, there were over 600 consumers. Twenty-two million feet of gas was made annually at the plant at the foot of
Crafts Avenue. The price of gas at first was $4 a thousand feet, a year later $3, then $2 and by 1895 was $1.60. Twelve miles of pipe serviced customers at that time. There were three
gas holders, round and made of brick, with slate roofs. One remains. The making of gas was a day and night job for two gangs of men. The works were on one of the yard tracks of the Canal
Railroad, and coal could be easily unloaded into the company’s great coal shed. The new Gas Light Company building was given to the City of Northampton, together with the 1856 gas plant
and gas holder, in 1974.” 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 FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [CRAFTS AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.795 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 Northampton Gas Works Building is an iconic building of center Northampton and represents the 19th century growth of
energy utilities that took place throughout the state. It is one of the few gas works buildings remaining in the Commonwealth. Architecturally, it is significant as an example of the
design that was devised for a gas storage building and its round masonry result that was both pragmatic and aesthetically pleasing. The gas works has integrity of materials, design,
setting, feeling and workmanship.