Graves Avenue 2-6.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 32A-257 Easthampton NTH.2126 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 2-6 Graves Avenue Historic Name:
Avon and Henry Matthews Block Uses: Present: Multiple Residence rowhouse Original: Multiple Residence rowhouse Date of Construction: 1890-1895 Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas Style/Form:
Panel Brick Architect/Builder: Avon and Henry Matthews, Builders Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick, marble, terra cotta Roof: slate and not visible Outbuildings/Secondary
Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Windows replaced, ca. 1990 Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.078 acres Setting: This is a south-facing building at the
entry to a dead-end residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [2-6 GRAVES AVE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.2126 ___ 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. This three-story brick rowhouse has a flat roof and was built on the urban rowhouse model found
in major cities in Massachusetts. It is nine bays wide and the equivalent of four bays deep. The south façade has three projecting pavilions of two bays each and the two entries to the
building are located between the pavilions under slate-covered, shed roof porches on spindled braces. The doors are Craftsman style with glass and wood panels and are set in wide, segmentally
arched openings. There is an exterior wall chimney on the east elevation. The exterior of the building was given ornament in the Panel Brick style. It has a corbelled cornice above a
brick frieze at the roofline, corbelled stringcourses at the window lintel level of each story, and marble, sills, lintels, and stoops. The stringcourses have decorative terra cotta
blocks at the window openings. This ornament corresponds in brick and terra cotta to the many materials and forms that enliven the exterior of a frame Queen Anne style building. 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: “Graves Avenue was laid out in 1884 through the Graves homestead on Market Street. The street was quickly developed residentially, and by 1895, fourteen
of the present fifteen structures had been constructed. There were a variety of residential types including single-family, double, and rows. This large block seems to have been built
to contain nine flats. In 1890, Avon and Henry Matthews bought lot no. 1 of the subdivision plan from Silas Cooley. Mr. Cooley had purchased lots 1, 3, and 5 in 1886 and had an eight
unit brick row built on lots 3 and 5. In his deed to the Matthews Bros., there was a restriction on placing any new building within 15 feet of his block. The Matthews were prominent
builders, masons, and carpenters, and maximized their investment by erecting this large block.” 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. 431-P. 409, 399-12