Crescent Street 4.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 31B-67 Easthampton NTH.606 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 4 Crescent Street Historic Name: Thomas
M. O’Donnell House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1894-1895 Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, paneling Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.365 acre Setting: This house is north-facing on a raised corner lot.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [4 CRESCENT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.606 _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 finest examples of the Queen Anne style in Northampton. It is a two-and-a-half
story house with a hipped roof that has cross gables on the east elevation and on the north façade. There are two cross-gables on the north and both have eaves that make full returns
to form pediments with curved bargeboards that create arched openings. The larger of the two has windows in the gable field that are fit into the arch in an unusual fashion, and the
smaller is a stacked porch with paneling in its field. A wraparound porch traverses the north façade and most of the west elevation. It is supported on turned posts with solid Eastlake
brackets, a railing with turned balusters that follow the same profile as the posts. A paneled frieze surrounds the building and descends to frame a second story rondel on the west elevation.
This building with its unique and playful elements is clearly architect-designed and further research should be done to identify the architect. 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
1980: “This finely detailed, late 19th century house was built on a prominent corner site for Thomas O’Donnell, the keeper of a Main Street cigar store, restaurant, and saloon. Crescent
Street had had been laid out in 1886, curving gracefully along the middle slopes of the eastern, northern and western sides of Round Hill. The street quickly became one of the most ‘aristocratic’
in the city.” 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: Bk. 467-P.135, 465-356, 394-90 and 91
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [4 CRESCENT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.606 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 O’Donnell 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. Architecturally it is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne style houses, the Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival styles
of the 20th century that were often architect-designed by the region’s most well-known designers. The O’Donnell House is a fine example of the Queen Anne style and is exceptionally well-preserved.
This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.