Paradise Road 8.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):
June, 2011 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31B-242 Easthampton NTH.588 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Smith College campus Address: 8 Paradise Road
Historic Name: Smith College President’s House Uses: Present: Single-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: 1920 Source: Smith College website Style/Form:
Georgian Revival Architect/Builder: John W. Ames, Architect, Boston Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: stucco Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations
(with dates): Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.193 acres Setting: This building is set back from Elm Street and its principal façade overlooks Paradise Pond on
the south.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [8 Paradise Road] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.588 _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. The Smith College President’s house, the grandest residence on the Smith College campus, is a two-and-a-half
story, stucco-sided, Georgian Revival style house under a slate, hipped roof. The north façade is seven bays wide, has corner Ionic pilasters and a pair of two-story Ionic pilasters
that frame the center entry. The entry has a Georgian style eared architrave surround with a a balcony on consoles above it. There is a tall, four-light transom over the double leaf
doors. Directly above the entry at the second floor level is an opening with French doors under an arched fanlight. The house’s south elevation overlooks Paradise Pond on the south and
is composed of a recessed porch flanked by two projecting wings. The porch is supported by colossal, two story, Ionic columns. Three front-gable dormers are evenly spaced on the roof’s
north and south sides and two on east and west, and four tall chimneys are located on the lower slopes of the roof on the east and west . Sash in the house is primarily 6/6. There is
a hipped roof wing on the east end of the north façade. It is three bays long with a lattice work entry porch and a one-bay garage set perpendicular to its entry. 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 1977: “Built in 1919-20 on a sloping hillside site facing Paradise Pond and Mt. Tom, the President’s House replaced Gateway House as the official residence of the President
of Smith College. Designed by John W. Ames of Boston (who was later a partner in the planning of the Quadrangle complex) in the Neo-Georgian style, the large residence is situated in
front of a formally landscaped rear terrace. The largest American elm tree remaining on campus is located within the urn adorned walls.” 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. Smith College Archives 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
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [8 Paradise Road] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.588 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. The Smith College President’s House would be individually eligible for the National Register as home from 1920 to the present
to a succession of educational leaders of this nationally important women’s college including William Allan Neilson (1917-1939), Elizabeth Cutter Morrow (1939-40), Herbert Davis (1940-1949),
Benjamin Fletcher Wright (1949-1959), Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1959-1975), and Jill Kerr Conway (1975-1985). Architecturally the house is significant as a high style expression of the
Georgian Revival style and example of the work of Boston architect John Ames (1871-1954) who was to go on to design the Quadrangle complex for Smith College within the firm of Ames,
Putnam and Dodge. The Smith College campus as a whole may be considered eligible for the Register as an historic district, and if that were to occur, the President’s House would contribute
to that district.