Park Avenue 15 & 15A.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 31B-314-001 Easthampton NTH.637 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 15 & 15A Park Avenue Historic
Name: Asahel Abell House Uses: Present: Two-family residence Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: ca. 1840 Source: Registry of Deeds Style/Form: eclectic Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Large addition to house post-1895;
Condition: good Moved: no | | yes | x | Date ca. 1895 Acreage: 0.252 acres Setting: This house house is set at the end of a dead end street and it faces south.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [15& 15A PARK AVENUE] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.637 ___ 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 Abell House is in two sections. The older section is a one-and-a-half story, front-gabled house
whose south façade is three bays wide. It has a side entry that is recessed and has a paneled intrados adjacent to two, full-length windows with 6/9 sash. The recessed entry is Greek
Revival in style, which is consistent with a construction date ca. 1840, however full-length windows are Italianate style, and the date of 1840 is rather early in Northampton for the
Italianate. They may have been a later alteration. A shed roofed porch crosses the south façade and is supported by chamfered posts on high pedestals. The porch railing is jigsaw-cut
in an ornamental pattern that reproduces a Queen Anne style railing and was added to the house since 1980. At the second floor level windows have architrave surrounds and 6/6 sash. Attached
to the older section and set back on its east elevation is a second section of house that is two-and-a-half stories under a hipped roof. This large wing is four bays long and has a wide
cross-gable dormer on its south façade. This wing also has a shed roofed porch on its south façade extending from the angle between the two sections through three bays. The porch has
identical posts and railings to the older, front-gabled section of the house suggesting that the porches were added after the main house was moved to its current location and the wing
was added. In the four-bay façade the entry occupies the second bay from the east and has a flat door surround. Adjacent to it on the west is a Colonial Revival style stair window with
muntins in a diamond pattern. The wing of the house is three bays deep and has a secondary entry under a shed roofed portico on its west elevation. Its windows have 6/6 sash that replace
2/2 sash that was present in 1980. 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 1980: “In 1839, Asahel Abell bought ¾ of an acre on Lyman’s Lane (later Park Street, now Trumbull Road) for
$400. Mr. Abell was listed as an architect on the deed, but in all directory listings is referred to as a carpenter. He and his brother Ansel Abell operated a combination saw and planning
mill on lower Pleasant Street during the 1840’s. This house was built as Mr. Abell’s residence, and he seems to have lived here until his death c. 1880. His widow, Wealthy Abell, continued
here until the early 1890’s. After her death, Porter Underwood, the owner of the property since 1866 when Hampshire Superior Court had set off the premises from Mr. Abell to settle a
claim, had the house moved to the rear of the property and sold the Park Street frontage as two building lots.” 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. Registry of Deeds: Bk. 256-P. 72, 234-389, 86-22