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Pine Street 130.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): May, 2011 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 23A-146 Easthampton NTH.205 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 130 Pine Street Historic Name: Florence Congregational Church Uses: Present: Church Original: Church Date of Construction: 1861-1863 Source: Hampshire Gazette, 6/25/1861 Style/Form: Italianate and Queen Anne Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt, Architect, Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards, flushboards, shingles Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Two buildings connected by one-story connector, n.d. Condition: Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 2.13 acres Setting: This church complex occupies a large lot at a broad intersection giving it an open aspect and prominence in the landscape. INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [130 PINE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.205 ___ 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 Congregational Church is a two-and-a-half story, front-gabled building whose north façade is framed on the east by a three-story tower under a bell-shaped hipped roof, and on the west by a four-story tower topped by a polygonal steeple. The church’s north façade is three bays wide with a center round-arched entry filled with double-leaf, paneled doors beneath an arched, label-lintel surround. Round-arched label lintels crown the flanking, two-story Italianate windows and at the second story level above the entry is a rose window. The windows are glazed with leaded glass. While the main block of the church is clapboard sided, the two towers are flushboard sided. The first two stories of the east tower are blind and paneled, and the first two stories of the west tower are paneled but fenestrated. An over-scaled molding detail at the cornice crosses the two towers and follows the rake of the center gable uniting the three architectural elements. The east and west elevations of the church have segmentally arched windows with correspondingly arched label lintels. These elevations are five bays long. On the west elevation a one-story connector, three bays wide attaches a one-and-a-half story ell on the south side of the church to a Queen Anne style parish house. The parish house is a two-and-a-half story building under a front-jerkin head roof. It has one-and-a-half story wings on east and west under jerkin head roofs. The main block is three bays wide and a shed roof porch on posts shelters a double-leaf entry under a high transom. At each side of the entry is a window with paired sash under a transom light. On its west elevation is a second story oriel window under a cross-gable roof. The oriel window is supported by a series of curved consoles. The wings of the building are the same length but have distinct elevations. The east wing has a roof created by an extension of its roof on which is a narrow shed roofed dormer. The west wing has a cross-gable on its roof above an oriel window at the first story. The exterior of the building is divided by stringcourses in Stick Style fashion above and below stories and it has prominent cornerboards for vertical divisions as well. In the main block of the parish house the gable above its stringcourses is shingled for contrast and has a carved sunburst relief at attic level. These two buildings, constructed two years apart yet illustrate two very different styles taken to a high order. 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 1975: “The Congregational Church in Florence was constructed in 1861, at a cost of $4000. The impetus to build a house of worship in the village came from a small number of citizens, yet the funds ($3600) had been raised before the structure was completed. The sanctuary originally seated 250 persons; a newspaper article at the time estimated 2000 potential users in the village. Funds for the church construction were raised by various means, including ‘strawberry suppers’ given by the women of the congregation. Local philanthropists like A.L. Williston and D.G. Littlefield undoubtedly contributed heavily. In 1863, Williston, I.S. Parsons, and Littlefield, three industrialists, paid for the erection of a parsonage adjoining the church.” 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. INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [130 PINE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.205 INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [130 PINE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 NTH.205 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 Congregational Church would contribute to a Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence Center is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around industry on the Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry that flourished through the Civil war as an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and Industry, a utopian community that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive slaves. It is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing Machine Company, which built its own housing. Architecturally the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library in the Revival styles of the late 19th century and this church in the Italianate and Queen Anne styles. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. The potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.