Pine Street 159.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 22B-32 Easthampton NTH.149 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 159 Pine Street Historic Name:
Samuel Porter House Uses: Present: apartment building Original: Single-family residence Date of Construction: ca. 1885 Source: Atlas and publication Style/Form: utilitarian and Queen
Anne Architect/Builder: William Fenno Pratt and Son, architects, Northampton Exterior Material: Foundation: brick and concrete Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone Roof: asphalt Outbuildings/Secondary
Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Apartment block added to building, ca. 1960. Condition: good/fair Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.368 acres Setting: This building
occupies a corner block across the street from a former public school.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [159 PINE STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.149 ___ 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 Porter House is the older of this two-section building. It is a two-and-a-half story, red brick
building under a front-gable roof. Centered on what is visible of its south façade is a three-story angled bay under a polygonal roof. Queen Anne in style, this section of the building
is red brick with stringcourses extending through the window lintels between stories. The stringcourses are made up of tarred bricks and corbelled bricks. Window sills and lintels are
contrasting brownstone and the angled bay has decorative panels beneath its second story windows. At its third story the angled bay has an open wood porch on turned, half-length supports
with brackets at the eaves and a cutwork railing. Unfortunately, attached to the southwest section of the former house is a large apartment building, two stories in height under a flat
roof. It obscures the architect-designed house without contributing architecturally to the composition. 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: “Mr. Porter was the superintendent
of the Nonotuck Silk Co. and also served president of the Florence Savings Bank. Thus, he was in a position to have his house designed by the firm of William F. Pratt and Son. Mr. Pratt
was Northampton’s most prominent and prolific architect of the second half of the 19th century. He began his own business is the late 1830’s after working with his father, Thomas Pratt,
the master carpenter for a number of years. In 1882, he admitted his son William F. Pratt, Jr. into a partnership. It is unknown which member of the partnership played the major role
in the Porter House.” 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.