King Street 131.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 31B-81 Easthampton NTH.610 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 131 King Street Historic Name: Armory
Building Uses: Present: Office building Original: armory Date of Construction: 1900 Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette, Aug. 28, 1900 Style/Form: Gothic Revival Architect/Builder: Gardner,
Pyne & Gardner, architects, Springfield Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone Roof: asphalt and not visible Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations
(with dates): Windows replaced, ca. 1990. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.562 acres Setting: This building occupies a corner lot and faces west on a major thoroughfare.
Its lot abuts railroad tracks.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [131 KING STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.610 ___ 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. The Armory building is one of two Gothic Revival style government buildings in Northampton, the
second being Northampton’s City Hall, which this building consciously reflects. The brick building is composed of two sections: the main block that is two stories in height under a flat
roof and the rear ell that is one-story in height under a front-gable roof. The main block’s west façade is five bays wide with rounded bays projecting from the flat façade in the second
and fourth bays and rising to a crenellated parapet wall suggestive of a Gothic fortress. Between the two rounded bays is a one-story portico with a segmentally arched opening that creates
a recessed entry. Windows in the main block have straight, round and segmentally arched openings and have metal replacement 1/1 sash. Their sills are brownstone. A brick stringcourse
divides the first and second stories and a second stringcourse divides the second story from the parapet roof above it. The ell is eight bays long and has stepped parapet roofs on its
eastern elevation and the partially exposed western elevation. Windows are segmentally arched and there is a corbelled cornice at the roofline. 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
1975: “The Springfield architectural partnership consisting of E.C. Gardner, his son, George C., and George Pyne, formed in 1889. Gardner was a native of Ashfield who began to practice
architecture in Florence in 1858. Gardner relocated to Springfield in 1870 after having designed a number of commercial buildings in Northampton. Although portions of several factory
complexes designed by Gardner remain, only one residence (a later 1880 design on Elm Street) and the Armory in the downtown area survive in Northampton. An early work in Springfield,
Gardner’s Trinity Church (1870) received mention in H.R. Hitchcock’s volume The Architecture of H.H. Richardson and His Times. The Armory building was built by the city in 1899-1900
and purchased by the state in 1912. The structure served as a constabulary headquarters and as the barracks for various police and military groups. Recreational activities were also
held at the Armory and an occasional civic event like an auto show in 1931 took advantage of the large interior space which the structure offered. The Armory is now the first significant
building one encounters on entering the city from the north, the residential charm of King Street having long been erased by commercial development.” 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.