Round Hill Road 22-24.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-165 Easthampton NTH.647 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 22-24 Round Hill Road Historic Name:
L. Clark Seelye House Uses: Present: Single-family house Original: Single-family house Date of Construction: 1909 Source: Registry of Deeds, Atlas & Springfield Daily Republican Style/Form:
Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: brick/brownstone Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Garage Major Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.916 acre Setting: this house is set back from the street on a south-sloping lot. It is set behind a circular driveway.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22-24 ROUND HILL ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.647 _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 Seelye House is a fine example of the Colonial Revival style. It is a two-and-a-half story
house under a hipped, slate roof on which is centered a stucco-sided front dormer. The house is three bays wide on its east façade and has a round portico on Doric columns and respondent
Doric pilasters. The portico has a pedimented entry. The main entry to the house is a broad double-leaf door underneath an elliptical leaded glass fanlight and flanked by leaded sidelights.
The house has been well-detailed with corner brick quoins and a brownstone watertable, window sills and lintels. It has a projecting porch at the south west corner that rests on Doric
columns. 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 1909, the Rev. L. Clark Seelye bought almost an acre of land on the lower portion of Round Hill Road and had this house constructed
at a cost of $25,000. Rev. Seelye came to Northampton in 1873 to assume the presidency of the newly formed Smith College. He had previously been a professor at Amherst College and during
the early 1860’s had been pastor of the North Congregational Church in Springfield. As the first president, Rev. Seelye presided over the growth of what was to become this country’s
most prestigious college for women. He retired in 1910 to this house and resided here over his remaining years.” 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. 820-P. 363, 644-469
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [22-24 ROUND HILL ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 2 NTH.647 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. This property would contribute to a potential Round Hill Historic District. This potential historic district is significant according to
criteria A and C and would have local significance. The residential streets that cross Round Hill are significant according to criterion A for their reflection of development in Northampton
from the early 19th century (1807) through the 1950s. Residential development began on Round Hill with the establishment of gentleman’s estates but grew with schools and a resort hotel
until the 1890s when residential development increased significantly. From the 1890s through the 1950s (1959 McAlister Infirmary) Round Hill became home to Northampton’s wealthy and
to the Clarke School for the Deaf. Architecturally this area of Northampton is significant for the range of residential architectural styles including the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival,
and for its institutional buildings in the French Second Empire, through High Victorian Gothic and Colonial Revival styles ending with the American International style. The potential
district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.