Harrison Avenue 54.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-223 Easthampton NTH.535 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 54 Harrison Avenue Historic Name:
Rebecca Stedman House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1898 Source: Atlases & Springfield Daily Republican Style/Form: Colonial
Revival Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.216 acres Setting: This house faces northeast on a quiet, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [54 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.535 __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. In 1898 when this house was built a person could choose either an ornate Queen Anne design or a
more restrained and classical Colonial Revival style and both appear on this street. The Rebecca Stedman House is a sizeable but fairly modest version of the Colonial Revival style.
It is two-and-a-half stories under a hipped roof that has hipped roof dormers centered on its visible elevations. From there on, the house becomes asymmetrical. The first floor level
of the west façade has an off-center entry flanked by a large window on the north and by a three-sided, angled bay window on the south. A porch crosses the north half of the façade and
wraps around to the north. It rests on Doric columns and respondent pilasters at the façade wall. The porch railing has square balusters. A pediment on its roof marks the stairs to the
porch. At the second story level the house is four bays wide and projects beyond the first floor bay window at the southwest corner to be supported on consoles. Second story windows
are replacement 1/1 and first story windows are original 2/2 sash. 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: “This house was built for Miss Rebecca Stedman in 1898 at a cost of $3000.
Miss Stedman was assistant librarian at the Northampton Public Library. Harrison Avenue was opened in 1890, and quickly became one of the most fashionable streets in the city. Most of
the houses were built in the turn-of-the-century period and illustrate the eclecticism of that era.” 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.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [54 HARRISON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.535 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.