Elm Street 90.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: PVPC Date (month /year): March, 2010 Assessor’s Number
USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31B-249 Easthampton NTH.2450 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 90 Elm Street Historic Name: Smith College Campus Center Uses:
Present: campus center Original: campus center Date of Construction: 2003 Source: Smith College website Style/Form: Contemporary Architect/Builder: Weiss/Manfredi Architects, New York
Exterior Material: Foundation: concrete Wall/Trim: wood, glass, steel Roof: not visible Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no |
x | yes | | Date Acreage: Setting: The campus center faces north on to Elm Street, but its principal façade is oriented to the south and the Smith College campus landscape.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [Elm Street ] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet
1 NTH.2450 ___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is within a local historic district. 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 Smith campus center is a two story building with
a complex plan and elevation. The campus center is described by its architects as consisting of three buildings linked on the interior by bridges and by a two-story high curving central
corridor that allows passage from Elm Street on the north to the campus grounds on the south. The building’s exterior walls are wood with narrow strips laid to resemble board-and-batten
siding, alternating with glass and steel walls. On the wooden walls the batten-like strips are spaced irregularly so that they accentuate the curves of the building; the glass and steel
sections are placed to offer brief views from the outside of activity on the interior and from the interior they offer views into the college landscape. The height of the building of
two stories maintains the height of its neighbors and the irregular elevations aim to break the building down visually into residential-sized components to match its Elm Street neighbors.
The board-and-batten-like siding appers to have been chosen to fit in with the building’s Stick Style neighbors. This building with its expanses of glass is a stylistic 21st century
expression of the architectural principle developed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which blurred distinctions between interior and exterior spaces. 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. When Smith College
was established in 1875 its students lived in private homes near campus and it wasn’t until 1936 when the Quad dorms were completed that all students had campus housing. Throughout this
period, their common spaces were the classrooms, library, auditorium, the living rooms of their houses, coffee shops and campus grounds. Dispersed meeting spaces were a common feature
of schools during much of the19th century until after World War II when “campus commons” and “student unions” began appearing among school buildings to provide safe social spaces for
students of diverse ages and interests to meet. The growing participation post-war of students in the political life of the schools called for larger meeting places as well. Changing
notions of education in the second half of the 20th century included fostering leadership and community involvement, which led in many schools to providing opportunities on campus for
students to expand their extra-curricular interests, and this campus center is a reflection of the expansion of those educational opportunities on the Smith campus. The campus center
simultaneously reflects the College’s concern to create and maintain a community among its large number of students, a task that was easier when the student population was smaller. To
both those ends, the building provides formal and informal meeting spaces, recreational spaces, workspaces for student organizations, performance spaces, a bookstore, a café, mailboxes,
art studios and exhibit spaces. In order to provide the campus center the college moved a building on this lot to a new location. Wesley House, built in 1899, was moved in 2002 to the
south of Haven House, freeing up space for the center. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES