Gothic Street 61.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-217 Easthampton NTH.682 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 61 Gothic Street Historic Name: Jeremiah
Brown House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family house Date of Construction: 1872-73 Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas Style/Form: Gothic Revival Architect/Builder:
Jeremiah Brown, builder, attr. Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, flushboard Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with
dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.081 acres Setting: This is a west-facing house on a street of mixed commercial, institutional and residential use. It
occupies a corner lot.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [61 GOTHIC STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.682 _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 Jeremiah Brown House is a fine example of a Gothic Revival style house that is gable-and-wing
in plan. It is one-and-a-half stories in height, has very steeply pitched roofs, and in the angle between the gable and the wing is a two-story tower under a pyramidal roof. Surrounding
the tower is a corner porch on turned posts that rest on high pedestals and have brackets at the eaves. Through-eaves dormers with steeply pitched roofs are located at each side of the
tower at second story level. The front-gable section of the building has a one-story bay window below paired windows and a rondel in the gable field. The wing section has a single, full-length
window at the first floor on the west and a bay window on the south. There is a tall chimney at the junction of the two ridges on the roof. 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 1872, Jeremiah Brown purchased land on the corner of Gothic Street and Allen Place. Mr. Brown was a mason and builder and probably built this house himself. It was shown on the 1872
Atlas. In 1880, William Bailey became a partner of Mr. Brown and five years later they bought the Porter Nutting brickyard property of North Elm Street and went into the brick making
business. Soon, they were making 3,000,000 bricks a year and employing 100 men. The firm had some of the largest contracts in the city and built Forbes Library, the High School, Belding’s
Silk Mill and the South Street School, among others. Mr. Brown was also prominent in local politics, serving two terms as Northampton’s third mayor in 1889 and 1890.” 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. 292-P. 171, 212-243
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [61 GOTHIC STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.682 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 Brown House would contribute to a potential historic district encompassing Allen Place and a portion of Gothic Street
as it was in this neighborhood where the Bailey and Brown brick shop was located in the 1880s, which furnished the brick, the design and the construction of the multiple brick Gothic
Revival houses and many of the institutional buildings in Northampton. The two houses as 10 and 11 Allen Place are good examples of the work of this brick making firm and represent the
light industry that formed an important part of the Northampton economy at the turn of the century. This frame house was the home of Jeremiah Brown and as such is individually eligible
for the National Register for the impact his work had on the city. Architecturally, the Brown House is a fine example of the late Gothic Revival style and it is one of the best-preserved
examples of the style.