Kensington Avenue 55.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-240 Easthampton NTH.550 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 55 Kensington Avenue Historic Name:
Esther Pease House Uses: Present: Three-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1890-1892 Source: Registry of Deeds & Directory Style/Form: Queen Anne
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: vinyl and asphalt shingles Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates):
Siding added ca. 1960-1990. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.117 acres Setting: This house faces east on a quiet, residential street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [55 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.550 _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 one of at least four houses on Kensington Street built on the same model. Others are #61,
62, and 64. It is two-and-a-half stories in height and has a side-gable roof with a three-story tower under a pyramidal hipped roof adjacent to a two-story, stacked porch. There are
cross-gables on the east façade as well as a cross-gable bay on the south elevation and a two-and-a-a-half story ell on the rear making this a very large house on Kensington Street.
The porch is supported on turned Queen Anne posts with square posts serving as additional supports on the sides. The house has vinyl siding on first and second stories and asphalt shingle
siding on the attic level. 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 is one of the earliest houses to be constructed on Kensington Avenue. The street was opened in 1890 through
the Elm Street homestead of Aaron Breck by Charles Crouch. Mr. Crouch was Northampton’s most prolific builder of the 19th century, constructing over 150 houses. The house appears on
the 1895 atlas as the property of Esther Pease. Mrs. Pease is first listed at the address in the 1892-93 directory.” Esther Pease was the widow of Solomon Pease. 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] [55 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.550 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.