Henshaw Avenue 25.pdf
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. FORM A -AREA MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220MORRISSEY
BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Assessor’s Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area 31B-179 Easthampton NTH.656 ;2515; 2516 Town: Northampton Place (neighborhood
or village): Name of Area: 25 Henshaw Avenue Present Use: Smith College apartments Construction Dates or Period: ca. 1890-1900 Overall Condition: good Major Intrusions and Alterations:
Acreage: 0.172 acres Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Date (month/year): December, 2010 Topographic or Assessor's Map
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
Continuation sheet 1 _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, structural
and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the community. There are three former Capen School buildings at 25 Henshaw Street, a domestic science building, an
infirmary, and the Capen School heating plant. The Capen Domestic Science Building is Colonial Revival in style being two-and-a-half stories in height under a gambrel roof. The lower
slope of its west roof has a full-width dormer that is divided into two unequally-sized front-gable dormers separated by a shed roof. The west façade is three bays wide. One bay consists
of a projecting oriel window with a large fixed-light sash beneath a multi-paned transom. The other two bays form a recessed porch that rests on two Doric columns. On the south elevation
an exterior wall chimney laces through the roof eaves and is adjacent to a two-story bay window. The north façade has a projecting oriel window at its second story. There is a shallow
ell on the rear of the building. The first story is clapboard-sided and the upper stories are shingle-sided, an almost universal Colonial Revival treatment. The Capen Infirmary is a
two-and-a-half story Colonial Revival style building under a slate-covered, side-gable, gambrel roof. It is five bays wide, rests on brick foundations, and has a portico on Doric columns
on its south façade. There is a centered cross-gable on the south roof flanked by front-gabled dormers that rise from the lower angle of the roof and break through the upper roof level.
The building is clapboard-sided on the first story and wood shingle-sided on the second story and attic level. On the west elevation, there is a projecting porch on the second floor
level that rests on braces. It has Doric columns supports as well and above its roof is a Colonial Revival style oval attic window. Most of the window openings in the house are paired
with 6/1 sash. The center door has a flat stock surround and is flanked by windows with 6/1 sash. The Capen Heating Plant is a one-and-a-half story Colonial Revival style building with
a side-gable gambrel roof covered in asphalt shingles. It has a brick first story and a wood shingled second story. There is a cross-gable gambrel roofed wing on the south façade. The
wing is three bays wide and contains in its gable end a Palladian window composition. The main block of the building is three bays wide with an end door. It is sheltered by a shed roofed
porch on three metal posts. First story windows are 6/6. On the south roof of the main block is a front-gabled dormer attached to a shed roof dormer that has a band of 6/6 sash windows.
There is a second story entry in the west elevation of the building. It has a hoisting brace above a centered door that is reached by an exterior stair. Windows flank the center entry
and they have eight light sashes. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this relates to the historical development of the community. From Form
B of 1980: “In 1898, Horace Field sold his homestead to Bessie Capen, the principal of Mary A. Burnham School, an independent secondary school for girls. The front structure served as
the domestic science building and received its present form in an $8000 remodeling in 1910. The middle structure was constructed around the turn-of-the-century as an infirmary for the
school and the rear building was built at about the same time as the heating plant. This school continued until c. 1970, at which time the property was taken over by Smith College.”
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. 509-P. 443, 463-253, 398-51, 397-399
Continuation sheet 2 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 Capen School buildings 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 Capen School buildings are good examples
of the Colonial Revival style. This potential historic district has integrity of workmanship, feeling, setting, design and materials.
Continuation sheet 3 Data Sheet Address Name MHC# 25 Henshaw Avenue Capen School Domestic Science NTH.656 Capen Infirmary NTH.2515 Capen heating plant NTH.2516