Crescent Street 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: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Date (month /year):
March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 24D-249 Easthampton NTH.347 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 76 Crescent Street Historic Name:
J. M. Miner House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1874-1875 Source: Registry of Deeds, 315.205, Gazette, 3/31/74, 6/23/74
Style/Form: French Second Empire Architect/Builder: J.M. Miner Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: patterned slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage
Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.437 acre Setting: This is an east-facing house on a raised lot.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [76 CRESCENT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.347 _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 the largest and most elegant French Second Empire style house in Northampton. It is two-and-a-half
stories in height above an exposed basement on the east façade effectively raising it to three-and-a-half stories. It is a towered version of the style with a four-story tower centered
on its east façade, though the tower has a two-story pavilion attached to its east side and at ground level is a barrel-vaulted entry portico for additional complexity. At each side
of the tower-pavilion on the east façade are arcaded porches at the first story level. They are supported on chamfered posts on pedestals and connected by railings with fine balusters.
There is an angled bay window on the south. The house is five bays wide and the equivalent of five bays deep for a square plan. Dormers are set in the lower angle of the patterned, slate,
mansard roof and they are framed by a mansard roof in section. The roof eaves of the house and its tower are bracket-supported and windows have segmentally arched lintels with brackets.
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 1976: “J.M. Miner (also spelled Minor) came to Northampton in 1869 from Cleveland and designed a number of buildings in the downtown and residences
off Elm Street prior to his departure in the mid-seventies. Unlike W. F. Pratt, who had an established clientele, Minor often built on speculation, designing and erecting a dwelling
and living there until a buyer was found. This Mansard style on Crescent Street was designed in 1884 and sold to Lucien Dawson in that way. Crescent Street was proposed as part of a
plan of ‘Round Hill Estate,’ which included First, Second, and Third Avenues—now Bancroft and Hillside Roads and Crescent Street, in 1873. The parcels were built on in the period 1880
to 1930. The Miner House was one of the earliest dwellings. Built on lot #15, the house was sold to Dawson in December 1876.” 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, 329.329, 315.205, 314.430
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [76 CRESCENT STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.347 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 Miner 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 the potential district 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 Miner House is a fine example of the French Second Empire style
and is exceptionally well-preserved. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.