Main Street 141.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 31D-146 Easthampton NTH.781; NTH.2422 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 141-145 Main Street Historic
Name: Damon Building Uses: Present: commercial/residential Original: commercial/residential Date of Construction: 1850-1860 Source: Gazette references Style/Form: 19th c. commercial
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: granite Wall/Trim: brick, granite, wood Roof: not visible Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Windows
replaced, ca. 1990. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.034 acres Setting: This is a south-facing building on Northampton’s main commercial street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [141MAIN STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.781 & 2242 ___ 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 three-story brick building seven bays wide on its upper two stories and whose first story
consists of a pair of glass and wood storefronts at each side of a center entry to the upper stories. What reveals the building’s early date of construction is its trabeated granite
structure on the first floor. Wide and thick granite piers rise to a granite lintel whose blocks blocks span from pier to pier, their joints centered on the piers; the center entry has
a granite surround. This method of construction is also found across Main Street at the Isaac Damon-built buildings at 108 and 110-112 Main Street that date from the 1820s. Unlike those
two buildings, however, this building is not granite in its upper stories, but, rather, is brick. Windows have the same square-heads with square lintels and sills, though. Sash in the
windows is replacement metal 1/1. Crowing the building is a wooden bracketed cornice. 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. The Damon Building is part of what was known in 1860 as Granite Row. The
lot was occupied through the map of 1895 when it was identified as being in the ownership of “Damon”. There were fires on this side of Main Street and one on this block in the 1870s,
but it does not seem to have involved this building, so it is highly likely that it dates prior to 1860. Encouraged by the Urban Renewal movement in the 20th century, a false façade
on the building’s storefronts obscured its granite construction for many years. During that period it became known as the Whalen Office Supplies building. The attachment of the Damon
name to the building is interesting given its proximity to Isaac Damon buildings on the south side of the street, but no documentation was found linking the architect who died in 1865
with these buildings. Deed research would possibly be fruitful. 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.