Elm Street 45.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-224 Easthampton NTH. Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 45 Elm Street Historic Name: Elijah Hunt
Mills House/Burnham House Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory Original: single-family residence Date of Construction: c. 1810 Source: Smith College Archives Style/Form: French Second
Empire altered Federal Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: stone Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with
dates): Mansard roof added and wings added ca. 1877; connector to house at 41 Elm Street added ca. 2005. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 1.18 acres shared with
41 Elm Street Setting: Building is among a number of college dormitories lining Elm Street and part of the Smith College campus.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [45 ELM STREET ] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.688 ___ 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 building is now part of a U-shaped college dormitory created by construction of a connector
between the two buildings. The second building is 41 Elm Street. Little of this two-and-a-half story building remains visible from its Federal origins. It now has a mansard roof and
a wing added ca. 1877 on its northeast corner also with a mansard roof. The main block is five bays wide and four bays deep and the wing is three bays wide. It no longer has the domestic
scale of a Federal style house, due, no doubt to the alterations made when it was converted to school use. The building’s center entry is a portico on paired, fluted Ionic columns with
respondent pilasters and a recessed entry with paneled intrados. The portico is topped by a balustrade in front of a Palladian window composition. Windows in this section of the dormitory
have architrave surrounds with crown molding lintels on the first floor and simple architrave surrounds on the second floor. Front-gabled dormers on the roof have Stick Style King post
trusses in their gables and four chimneys rise through the roof. The wing has an exposed brick basement and a one-story porch on the south that is half enclosed. Second floor windows
of the wing have crown molding lintels. The connector of two-and-a-half and two-stories has a small section on bay wide under a mansard roof followed by a large angled brick chimney
of recent construction that marks the joining of the two buildings. 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: “Standing on part of what was one of the original grants of land
given by early settlers to welcome Deacon Jonathan Hunt, a later arrival from Hartford, this house was probably built in the early 19th century by Elijah Hunt Mills, the last member
of the Hunt family to occupy the original land. He was the last of five generations, and was one of house US Senators sent to Washington by Northampton voters. He is said to have presided
at a dinner given for Lafayette at the old Warner House here; and with Judge Samuel Howe, established and ran Northampton Law School (see Capen House). After Mills’ death it was owned
and occupied by Thomas Napier who came here from New York in the 1830’s, among many southerners who arrived at about that time. He was a slave-auctioneer, anti-abolitionist, and called
‘a man of wealth and high society.” His opposition to the abolitionist cause is said to have led to the establishment in Northampton of an ‘underground railroad’ station. He is recorded
as still living here in the 1840’s although the house was then owned by a Mr. Oscar Edwards, and later by John Huntington Lyman. Mr. Lyman sold it to Miss Mary Burnham in 1877 to establish
a school for young ladies because of the need felt y the newly established Smith College for better academic preparation for young women wishing to attend the college. It remained part
of the Burnham School until that institution moved from Northampton to a new campus. In 1968 it was purchased by Smith College and named Mary Ellen Chase House to honor longtime professor
and noted author.” 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. 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.