Florence Street 1.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 10B-93 Easthampton NTH.22 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 1 Florence Street (formerly Grove Hill)
Historic Name: Lucius Dimock Estate Uses: Present: Seven unit residence Original: Single-family house Date of Construction: 1879-1880 Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, July 3, 1946 Style/Form:
High Victorian Gothic Architect/Builder: Eugene C. Gardner, Architect, Springfield Exterior Material: Foundation: stone Wall/Trim: brick, wood, granite, shingles Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary
Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 3.372 acres Setting: This building is set on a promontory overlooking Leeds Center.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [1 Florence Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.22 __ _ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is on the National Register. 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 a two-and-a-half story brick house with a front-gable
roof that has a hipped cross-gable on its north elevation, a four-story corner tower in the angle between the two sections, and a one-and-a-half story ell on the east elevation for a
complex plan. It is High Victorian Gothic in style, being a late version of Gothic Revival (1865-1880) that emphasized polychromy through tarred brick stringcourses contrasted with brick
of a different color – in this case yellow brick – and ornamental brickwork patterns worked into the overall elevations. In addition, the building has the visually complex frame ornament
in its gable end with strapwork, shingles and flushboard. Chimneys make their way through roofs, eaves, and across dormers and are equally ornamented as the three porches of the first
story. The porches of the west and south have posts with globes turned in their profiles mid-way, while the two porches on the north under shed roofs have posts, brackets at the eaves
and ornamental spandrels. Wide eaves overhangs have ornamental brackets on the main roofs as well as those of the porches and tower. This is a rare survival of a High Victorian Gothic
house in western Massachusetts. 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) s) the owners/occupants played within the community. From Form B of 1975: “This brick residence was designed in 1879 by Springfield architect E.C. Gardner for Lucius Dimock,
director of the Corticelli Silk Company. A native of Ashfield, Gardner (1836-1915) began to practice architecture in Florence at the age of 22. Possibly instructed by W. F. Pratt, Gardner
settled in Springfield following the Civil War and maintained a practice there until 1911. In 1889, he formed a partnership with son George C. Gardner and George Pyne. Although Gardner
designed numerous commercial buildings in Northampton and Florence prior to his removal to Springfield, the Dimock house and one Elm Street residence, also brick and designed in 1879,
are the only residential designs yet identified in the city. The estate was one considerable: in addition to the Victorian residence, a greenhouse, barns and stables, and many fine trees
graced the hill. The Dimock house was built on the site of the earlier Benjamin North homestead. The North homestead was moved 100 yards northerly in 1879. At that time, E. C. Gardner
was commissioned to design the Dimock residence and the silk company factor building on Main Street, now Leeds Village apartments.” 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.