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Forbes Avenue 15.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 31A-122 Easthampton NTH.499 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 15 Forbes Avenue Historic Name: Byron Towne House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: single-family residence Date of Construction: 1884-1895 Source: Atlases Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: not visible Wall/Trim: shingles, clapboards Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Carriage barn Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.22 acres Setting: This house sits on a wide lot that is lushly landscaped with trees, shrubbery, streetside planting beds and more. INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [15 FORBES AVE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.499 __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. If 12 Forbes Street is representative of the high level of design and construction of the Queen Anne style in Northampton, the Byron Towne House at 15 Forbes Street is representative of the style at its most extravagant. It is a two-and-a-half story house under a steeply pitched hipped roof with cross-gables on north and south and an ell on the west. Centered on the east façade of the roof is a front-gabled dormer with an arched window. The dormer extends slightly on to the shed roof of a second story porch stacked on a full width first story porch. The two levels of porch are highly decorated with inverted, turned columns on high pedestals connected by railings with turned balusters. Just below the porch cornices are spindle friezes. The second story porch additionally has in its roof spandrels a checkerboard ornament with stars in relief. The siding of the house alternates between clapboards separated by shingle bands bordered with stringcourses. There is a one-story, shed roof bay on the south and a south porch on the ell. On the north elevation is a three-sided bay with paneled bases at each story. 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 1980: “Forbes Avenue was opened in 1887 by the prominent local developers J.C. Hammond and J.A. Sullivan. Development was slow, and by 1895, there were only four houses constructed. The other eleven lots were built upon in the early 20th century. In the 1920’s, the street was continued through to Washington Place, effectively doubling the length of the street. The first owner of this house was Byron Towne, co-owner of a Main Street grocery, who was listed here in the 1895 directory.” 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: Bk. 427-P. 541 INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [15 FORBES AVE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.499 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. This property would contribute to a potential historic district that would encompass the residential/institutional side streets laid out on the south side of Elm Street in Northampton Center between Main Street on the east and the west boundary of Childs Park on the west. This potential historic district is significant according to criteria A and C and would have local significance. These residential streets are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of the development of Northampton from the mid-19th century as a relatively affluent community that supported several private schools for young women, which prepared them after 1875 for attendance at Smith College, and the Clarke School where deaf students were given an education that thoroughly prepared them for the hearing world. The residences in this area made a shift from gentlemen’s estates to accommodation of the growing middle class in Northampton during the 19th century with businessmen, scholars, teachers, doctors, and retired farmers. According to criterion C this district would be significant for the range of historical styles that it includes. Gothic Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles are all well-represented within a landscape of individual large lots, and streetscapes that were laid out and developed at one time.