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Main Street 99 (Florence).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-211through 17C-215 Easthampton NTH.111 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 99 Main Street Historic Name: Miss Florence Diner Uses: Present: Diner/restaurant Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: residence, ca. 1880; diner ca. 1930 Source: Sanborn Insurance Maps Style/Form: Italianate and Moderne Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick, concrete Wall/Trim: metal, shingles, brick veneer Roof: metal, tar Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Diner added to house, ca. 1930; addition added behind house ca. 1950. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 1.021 acres Setting: This is a south-facing diner with a large parking lot on its east elevation. INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [99MAIN STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.111 ___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This property is part of a multiple resource Massachusetts diner listing to the National Register. 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. Like many diners, Miss Florence Diner is an additive property. Its central core is a two-story, flat roofed, shingle-sided, Italianate style house with brackets at its eaves. The diner is attached to the south façade of the house, which is no longer visible, and there is a two-story, flat roofed addition of brick veneer at the northeast corner of the house and a shed-roofed, shingled addition on its west elevation as well. The house and its additions serve as restaurant space beyond the diner walls. The diner is one-story and metal sided. It has a barrel-roofed, brick addition on its south façade, which serves as an enclosed entry. The diner itself is sided in yellow enameled panels with red stripes and has a metal-paneled extension on the north side creating a square floor plan on the interior. A raised flat roof covers the diner and its extension and on its south elevation the roof has the name of the diner applied to it. There is a neon-lit metal diner sign in the shape of two arrowheads set on the southeast corner of the roof and just at the corner below the sign is a large round clock on a neon-lit metal base. A glass block window at the southeast corner ornaments the band of windows that make up the diner’s fenestration. 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 1976: “The Miss Florence is one of four twentieth century diners in Northampton. As indicated by its name, the Miss Florence is located in Florence, a village of Northampton. The ancestor of the diner was the 1880’s ‘dog wagon,’ a horse drawn vehicle dispensing sandwiches and coffee. Catering to the fringes of the population awake at odd hours, these diners of the late 19th century were regarded with some suspicion and distaste. In the post-World War I years, however, diners designed along the lines of railroad cars became popular. The interior counter with stools, added in the 19th century, was joined by booths. Perhaps not the oldest of Northampton’s diners, the Miss Florence is most widely known and was featured in the New York Times in September of 1974.” 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.