Meadow Street 27.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 23A-3 Easthampton NTH.158 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 27 Meadow Street Historic Name:
William Gerhardt House Uses: Present: two-family residence Original: one-family residence Date of Construction: ca. 1873 Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlas Style/Form: Italianate Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: vinyl Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Siding added, porch shortened, and windows
replaced, ca. 2000. Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.248 0.248 acres Setting: set on a slight rise, this house faces south near the center of Florence. There are
two large maple trees at the street.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [27 MEADOW STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.158 ___ 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 large-scale house, two-and-a-half stories in height under a side-gable roof on which
are two interior chimneys. The house is five bays wide and two bays deep and on the south façade is a center entry behind a stacked porch on turned posts with brackets at the eaves.
The second story of the porch has a closed railing of shingles and its roof rests on posts. The house has lost a good deal of its character with the use of 1/1 vinyl replacement windows
and vinyl siding. Originally its porch was full-width and its turned brackets and pedimented roofs at the two stories added considerable ornament to the façade. Remaining, however, are
two through-cornice, front-gabled dormers with Italianate peaked windows in their gable fields. 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, “In 1873 William Gerhardt bought half
an acre of land on Meadow Street for $400 and built this double house soon after. It appears that the house was an investment as Mr. Gerhardt continued to live on Center Street, now
Middle Street, in Florence. Gerhardt was a die sinker and later a saloon keeper.” Research by Florence historian Steve Strimer indicates that this house may contain portions of a much
earlier house, known as the Josiah White house seen on the map of 1831. The Strimer research included a field investigation of the building’s structure, which found a second frame 36’
x 8’ x 12’ within the current frame. Confirmation of the second frame and dating of its members would be important to link the White house with this larger house. It is known that Lydia
Maria Childs leased the Josiah White house from its then owner Joseph Conant during her stay in Florence. Following Child, the White House was occupied for a time by Charles Munde, owner
and operator of the water cure treatment facility at the corner of Spring and Meadow Streets after the death of its founder David Ruggles. 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. Sheffeld, Charles. The History of Florence, Massachusetts, Florence, 1985. Strimer, Steve. Oral History,
April, 2010. Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884. Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860. Registry
of Deeds: Book 306 Page 496; Book 293 Page 89; Book 290 Page 291. Northampton Directory 1875-76; 1885-86,