Kensington Avenue 25.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-234 Easthampton NTH.545 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 25 Kensington Avenue Historic Name:
Michael Keating House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family house Date of Construction: 1890-1895 Source: Registry of Deeds & Atlas Style/Form: Queen Anne Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no |
x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.127 acres Setting: This is an east-facing house set on a slightly raised lot on a quiet, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.545 __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. This house is not as ornate a Queen Anne style house as its neighbor next door at #17, but it is
also a fine example of the style. The house is two-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gable roof with cross-gables on north and south to add variety to the roofline. In an angle
between the south bay and the main block of the house is a stair hall with three windows angled up the south elevation of the house. There is a shed-roofed, full-width porch on turned
posts across the east façade. It has solid brackets at the eaves and a Chippendale patterned porch railing. The shed roof with shingled spandrels is repeated over a one-story, three-sided
bay window on the south elevation. On the first story of the east façade the house is three bays wide with a side entry, foyer window and a large, fixed-light window. The latter window
is a common feature among Queen Anne houses in Northampton from the 1890s. The house is clapboard-sided except for gable ends that are decoratively shingled. 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: “Kensington Avenue was opened in 1890 by Charles Crouch, one of Northampton’s most prolific developers, and described in his obituary as ‘one of the most enterprising
citizens the town ever had… his motto was progress.’ He built about 150 houses in Northampton, either as tenement houses or on contract for others. By 1895, there were 15 houses built
on the street and by 1915 all of the lots but two were filled with houses This house appears on the 1895 atlas as property of Michael Keating, a mason who is also listed here in the
1895 directory.” 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.442-P. 131
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [25 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.545 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.