Crescent Street 61.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 24D-243 Easthampton NTH.342 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 61 Crescent Street Historic Name:
W. F. Pratt House Uses: Present: Six-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: c. 1884 Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas Style/Form: Panel Brick Architect/Builder:
William Fenno Pratt, architect Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick, brownstone, shingles, clapboard Roof: asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations
(with dates): Windows replaced, ca. 2000. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.951 acres Setting: This is a west-facing building on a large, east-sloping lot.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [61 CRESCENT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.342 _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 Pratt House is a two-and-a-half story brick house on a slope that exposes the basement on the
east elevation for a full third story. It has a hipped roof and an asymmetrical west façade. There is a projecting hipped pavilion on the north end of its west façade, and a front-gabled
bay on the south end of its west façade. The main entry to the building is located in the front-gabled bay. It is a portico on Doric columns. The door has a trabeated surround with a
transom and sidelights in leaded glass. In between the two projecting features is a Palladian window composition. There is a shed roof dormer on the south side of the roof as well as
two interior chimneys. The house is ornamented with contrasting bands of brick that is also corbelled. This is the brick version of the Queen Anne style, also known as Panel Brick for
its decorative use of masonry. The bands appear as stringcourses at window lintel level and a broad band of brick acts as a beltcourse. Windows are segmentally arched and have brownstone
sills. 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 was the second house to be built on the lower level of Round Hill. The estate of the Round Hill Hotel was first sectioned off
for development in 1873, but only two houses had been built by 1884. These faced each other, across what later became Crescent Street. Development picked up in the latter part of the
1880’s and by 1895, Crescent Street had nearly thirty houses built. The Gazette described it as one of the most ‘aristocratic’ streets in the city. This house was built by William F.
Pratt and his son William F. Pratt Jr. for their own residence. The elder Pratt was Northampton’s preeminent architect of the mid 19th century, and was responsible for much of the city’s
Main Street commercial blocks. His son had joined him in practice c. 1870 and the two continued until the firm was sold in 1893.” 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. 453-P. 257, 444-229 and 503, 436-169, 431-217, 388-32, 270-429, 269-207 and 154-139
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [61 CRESCENT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.342 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 Pratt 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 Pratt House is a fine example of the Queen Anne/Panel Brick style and is exceptionally
well-preserved. As the home of Willliam Fenno Pratt a This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.