Main Street 202.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-158-001 Easthampton NTH. Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Downtown Northampton Address: 202 Main Street
Historic Name: Mrs. Harriet E. Parsons Building Uses: Present: Commercial Original: Commercial Date of Construction: 1884-1889 Source: Sanborn Insurance Maps Style/Form: utilitarian
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: not visible Wall/Trim: brick Roof: not visible Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Windows replaced,
ca. 1990. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.035 acres Setting: This building faces northwest in downtown Northampton
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [202 Main Street] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH. ___ 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 Parsons Building is a two-story painted brick building with a ground floor commercial space and a second floor
office space. The first floor is divided into two storefronts with the shop door of each adjacent to a single display window. Entry to the upper story is clearly reached by the staircase
that is at 6-8 Crafts Avenue. More than a stairway is shared, however, as the second story of the Parsons Building is identical to the second floor of its neighbor. It is five bays wide
with segmentally arched windows with 1/1 replacement sash under brick lintels with stone cornerblocks and keystones. The building’s cornice line continues that of its neighbor with a
sawtooth cornice above a narrow brick fillet. The practice of stylistically uniting adjoining buildings by using the same elevations was practiced in a number of buildings on Main 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. The Mrs. Harriet E. Parsons building was constructed between 1884 and 1889. Mrs. Parsons owned this building and the whole block south of this as her estate facing
on to South Street. Parsons was married to Enos Parsons who was a justice in the court system and some of their property was in her name, while another building on Main Street was in
Enos’ name. In 1889 it was a one-story building only and appears on the Sanborn map with a steam laundry in it. By 1895 it had become a two-story building and occupied by a printing
company and the steam laundry, and in that year the Parsons sold the building to John Metcalf. Metcalf was a prominent man in city government acting as an Alderman, and when he got the
building he also got an easement from the owner of the Hampshire Bookstore building next door at 6-8 Crafts Avenue to a doorway in the party wall between the two buildings. That easement
was passed on between many subsequent owners. By 1902 the building was shared by an undertaker and the printing office and in 1910 its address had been changed to 2 Crafts Avenue and
it continued to hold the job printing company, which had expanded to the entire building. In 1915 the building was once again shared with offices for the Northampton Water Commissioner’s
office and the job printing company. By 1930 the building had sprinklers so functions were not not identified for the Sanborn Insurance Company map. 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.