Kensington Avenue 29.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-235 Easthampton NTH.546 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 29 Kensington Avenue Historic Name:
Uses: Present: Three-family residence Original: Rooming house Date of Construction: 1895-1915 Source: Atlases Style/Form: Queen Anne/Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Exterior Material:
Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes
| | Date Acreage: 0.117 acres Setting: This house is east-facing and overlooks the Smith College Q
uadrangle.INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [29 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1 NTH.546 __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 is a two-and-a-half story house that is transitional in style between the Queen Anne
and the Colonial Revival. It has a front-gable roof with a jetty in the gable end supported on small brackets – a late Queen Anne feature. On its east façade as well is a stacked porch
that wraps around at the first story to the north elevation. It is supported on Colonial Revival style chamfered posts with square capitals. The porch has a square spindle frieze on
the first story level and solid brackets pierced with a single circle at the second story – two features used in Queen Anne style that have been interpreted here in a more spare and
geometric fashion. The house is clapboard sided on the first story and shingle-sided on the second story and in the gable fields. There is a cross-gable bay on the south elevation that
has a Colonial Revival style paneling in its gable field. 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 and quickly became one of the most ‘aristocratic’
streets in the city. This house first appears on the 1915 atlas and the first known occupants were all professors at Smith College, who probably leased rooms here.” 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 ] [29 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.546 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.