Kensington Avenue 58.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-251 Easthampton NTH.558 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 58 Kensington Avenue Historic Name:
Charles Crouch Rental House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Two-family(?) residence Date of Construction: 1890-1895 Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas Style/Form: Queen
Anne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, shingles Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.74 acres Setting: This is a west-facing house house adjacent to the Smith College Quadrangle.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [62 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.558 _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 Queen Anne style house shared architectural elements with other houses on Kensington Street
at 61, 64 and 62, suggesting they originated in a common plan. It is a large Queen Anne styled building that appears to have been a two-family house at the time of its construction.
It is two-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gable roof with a pent roof gable end on the west façade. A three-story tower under a hipped roof is attached to the west façade
adjacent to a stacked porch. The third story of the tower is an open porch with turned post supports that are repeated on the second story of the stacked porch. The first story of the
porch has more slender turned posts that may be later replacements. Wood shingles form the solid railings of the porches on the tower and second story main porch and shingles appear
again in the small gable field of the west façade. On the roof are pairs of front-gabled dormers separated by an interior chimney on the south elevation. Windows are paired and have
replacement 1/1 sash. 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: “In 1890, Kensington Avenue was opened through the Elm Street homestead of Aaron Breck. The developer was Charles
Crouch, Northampton’s most most prolific builder during the 19th century. Mr. Crouch built over 150 houses in the city. Some of these were on contract, and others he leased out as tenements.
He was acclaimed as one of the three or four largest property owners in Northampton. This house was owned by Crouch and leased out.” 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] [62 KENSINGTON AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.558 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.