Lilly Street 22.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 17C-283 Easthampton NTH.138 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 22 Lilly Street Historic
Name: Alfred Lilly House Uses: Present: single-family home Original: single-family home Date of Construction: 1880-1884 Source: Registry of Deeds Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: not visible and slate on carriage barn Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Carriage barn Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.25 acres Setting: This house faces north on a residential street with a 19th century character.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22 Lilly Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH. 138 __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 fine example of the late Italianate villa style that was very popular in Northampton.
It is a two-story house with a flat roof with very wide flat Italianate eaves. It is three bays wide at the second floor level, while the first floor has a blind bay, a side entrance,
and a large, fixed-light window with a leaded glass transom. The large fixed-light window appears in Florence around 1870 and there are three examples on Middle Street, and several on
Bridge Street, and elsewhere as well. Windows in the house have footed lintels and sash is 2/2. The main entry surround also has a footed lintel. The house has a wrap-around porch that
crosses its east façade to the north elevation, supported on posts with scroll-cut brackets. At the attic level Italianate grilles are located in the frieze. The house has a slate-roofed
carriage barn. It is one of the few remaining in the area and the only one on the street. 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 the Form B of 1980, “Lilly Street was laid out by Alfred Lilly
in 1880. Mr. Lilly was one of the most prominent industrialists and philanthropists in Northampton. The Lilly Library, located nearby on Meadow Street and the Lilly Hall of Science for
Smith College are are two examples of his philanthropy, while he served as treasurer and general manager of the Nonotuck Silk Co., and was president of the Florence Furniture Company.
This house was built during the early 1880s and was held on to by Mr. Lilly until 1886. He probably leased the house out, as his homestead was on Pine Street. “ One of the occupants
of the house is thought to have been Anna Carpenter Garlin Spencer (1831-1931) who was a theologian in ethical culture. According to research by Steve Strimer of the Ruggles Center in
Florence, she at one time lived here on Lilly Street. She appears in the 1893 directory of Northampton as boarding on Federal Street at the corner of Main Street, but further directories
do not carry her name. She was a frequent speaker to the Free Congregational Society meetings. Anna Carpenter Garlin Spencer was a minister, feminist, educator, pacifist, and writer
on ethics and social problems. Spencer was the first woman in Rhode Island to be ordained and served as the minister of the Bell Street Chapel from 1891 to 1902. She was active in the
cause of women's rights for more than forty years and served as the president of the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association. Spencer's interest in pacifism also led her to prominent
positions with the National Peace and Arbitration Congress in 1907 and she was a founding member of the Woman's Peace Party in 1915, serving as vice chairman. She also became the first
chairman of the national board of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919. Spencer died at her home in New York in 1931. She was one of original signers of call
to found the NAACP. 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. Strimer, Steve. Oral history of Florence,
2010. 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] [22 Lilly Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH. 138 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 Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence Center
is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land
and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around industry on the
Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry
that flourished through the Civil war as an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and Industry, a utopian community
that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive
slaves. It is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing Machine Company, which built its own housing. Architecturally
the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library
in the the Revival styles of the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. The potential district has integrity of
workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.