Elm Street 109.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-198 Easthampton NTH.675 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Northampton Center Address: 109 Elm Street
Historic Name: Jonathan Hunt or Sessions House Uses: Present: Smith College Dormitory Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: c. 1700 Source: Smith College records Style/Form:
Georgian Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: stone, brick, concrete Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: wood shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with
dates): Ells added, east porch added, post-1921. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.173 acres Setting: Building faces south on Elm Street in a neighborhood of residences
converted to college use.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [109 ELM STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.675 ___ 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. Sessions House dormitory consists of the Hunt House, a Georgian style building, and a Colonial
Revival style ell that extends to the north of the house creating a long, rectangular plan. The Hunt House is a two-and-a-half story Georgian house -one of the best examples of the style
in Northampton -with a gambrel roof and a large, clustered, center chimney. Its wood shingle roof is the material it would originally have had when constructed ca. 1700. The house is
five bays wide and three bays deep and first floor windows have bold pedimented lintels, characteristic of the Georgian style. Second floor windows are set closely to the eaves, and
in the gable ends they also have pedimented lintels. Typical of early construction, there is a jetty in the gable ends. The center entry to the house has a hipped portico on columns
and there is a 6-light transom over an eight panel door. Three pedimented dormers are evenly spaced on the roof. The added two-and-a-half story ell on the north was designed with a gambrel
roof. It is five bays long and has shed roof dormers across its roof. The east open porch on the Hunt House was probably added at the time the ell was added. 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 1970: “Built by Jonathan Hunt (c. 1700) who was the son of Deacon Jonathan, on the early settlers who came to Northampton from Hartford, Connecticut, in the mid-17th century,
this house passed to the builder’s son, John Hunt, in 1738 and from this time various members of the Hunt Family occupied it for over 100 years. Jonathan Hunt’s daughter Mary married
Seth Pomeroy in 1732. After this, it passed on to the Henshaw (related by marriage) and Hopkins families, then to Sidney Bridgman, the Northampton bookseller, and finally to Mrs. Ruth
Huntington Sessions in 1900. Mrs. Sessions ran it as an off-campus house for over 20 years for Smith College girls, and sold it to the college in 1921, since which date it has been called
the Sessions House and used as a college dormitory. It has a secret stairway and passage which served as a hideout in Indian raids, and was considered very safe as the house was, in
the early days, far from the center of town.” 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.