Franklin Street 25-27.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-31 Easthampton NTH.462 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 25-27 Franklin Street Historic Name:
Avon & Henry Matthews House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Two-family residence Date of Construction: 1885-95 Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Carriage barn Major Alterations (with
dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.668 acres Setting: This house faces west on a quiet, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25-27 FRANKLIN ST] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.462 __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. The Queen Anne style adapted well to use for a two-family house, as its objective to provide multiple
interior spaces through gables, bays, oriels and porches accommodated well a two-family arrangement. This house has a truncated hipped roof topped by cresting rail, with two cross-gables
on the west façade, cross-gables on north and south and a polygonal dormer centered on the west roof. Between the two front gable bays is a two-story porch open on the first floor and
glass-enclosed on the second floor. It has a flat roof. The first floor porch supports are bracketed posts that rise to a spindle frieze. The north and south cross-gables become oriels
supported on consoles, projecting from the second story only. The house’s exterior is composed of clapboards separated by bands of shingles that continue across the porch and reappear
in the gable fields. They provide maximum visual interest to the exterior. A carriage barn, contemporary with the house, is located to its south east. 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: “In 1885, Avon and Henry Matthews, carpenters and builders, bought 1 ¾ acres of land on the eastern side of Franklin Street, south of Bancroft Road for $1700. The Matthews
brothers sold several lots for residential development and also built two double houses, of which this is one.” 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. 402-P. 31
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25-27 FRANKLIN ST] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.462 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. The Matthews House would contribute to a potential historic district that extends north of Northampton’s primary corridor,
Elm Street, encircling and encompassing the primary feature of that landscape, Round Hill. The potential historic district is significant for its 19th century development from a few
gentlemen’s farms to a neighborhood dense with the homes of its most prominent residents and educational institutions that shaped the character of Northampton for several hundred years
to the present. Architecturally the potential historic district is significant for the mix of high style late Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne style houses, the Colonial Revival
and Tudor Revival styles of the 20th century that were often architect-designed by the region’s most well-known designers. The Matthews House is a fine example of the Queen Anne style
as applied to a two-family residence. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.