Henshaw Avenue 21.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-200 Easthampton NTH.672 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 21 Henshaw Avenue Historic Name: Lucy
M. Fitts House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: c. 1876 Source: Registry of Deeds Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes
| | Date Acreage: 0.312 acres Setting: This is a west-facing building set on a lot that slopes gently down towards the east. It is in a neighborhood of college dormitories and residences,
many converted to college use.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [21 HENSHAW AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.672 __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 Lucy Fitts House is an uncommon plan and elevation. It is two-and-a-half stories in height
under a side-gable roof with a prominent cross-gable section on the west façade and a two-and-a-half story rear ell for a complex plan. Its roof has wide eaves overhangs that are bracketed
and further embellished in the gable ends with scroll-cut ornament. In the angle of the west façade is a porch that wraps from the west around to the south elevation. It is supported
on Italianate style chamfered posts topped by a highly unusual scrolled impost blocks. There is a second story porch stacked above the first story on the south elevation. Two bays wide,
it has bracketed post supports and rests on a paneled base that is also ornamented with scroll-cut corner reliefs. The main block of the house is two bays long with a double-leaf entry
and an adjacent window. Windows at the second story level are paired and have 1/1 sash. In the cross-gable section’s west facade there is a one-story bay window with a bracketed cornice
that has smaller versions of the scrolled impost blocks at its corners. At second story level there is a paired window under a projecting cornice lintel that is supported again on brackets.
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: “During the late 1860’s, the western portion of G.N. Talbot’s estate on Prospect Street was subdivided into building lots. These lots were
set out along the newly opened Henshaw Avenue. Jonas Willcut of Goshen bought lot #5 in 1868 and turned it over in 1876 to Lucy Fitts. It was at this time that the house was built.”
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.792-P.358, 745-207, 720-191, 705-513, 327-471 and 251-214
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [21 HENSHAW AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.672 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 Fitts 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 Fitts House is a good example of the Italianate style.
This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.