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College Lane 7.pdf Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. FORM B − BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY 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-290 Easthampton NTH.718 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Smith College Campus Address: 7 College Lane Historic Name: Moses Breck House Uses: Present: College Admissions Office and one apartment Original: single-family house Date of Construction: ca. 1870 Source: Registry of Deeds and Map of 1860 Style/Form: transitional Greek Revival/Italianate Architect/Builder: Moses Breck, attr. Exterior Material: Foundation: scored concrete Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): North wing, ca. 1909; south wing, 2005. Condition: good Moved: no | | yes | x | Date 1909 Acreage: .707 acres Setting: This building is set on a ridge that forms the north border of Paradise Pond. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [7 College Lane] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.718 _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 Moses Breck House is a two-and-a-half story house under a front-gable roof. Its dominant style is Greek Revival with eaves making full returns in the east façade to create a pediment that is flushboard-sided. Greek Revival in style also is the entrance portico on the two bay façade. It has a low hipped roof and rests on fluted Doric columns. The narrow house is generous in length extending the equivalent of five bays. Two features suggest this building was constructed ca. 1870 when the Greek Revival style had waned and the Italianate style was popular in Northampton and they are the arched window with an Italianate hooded lintel and the transverse gable on the south elevation. Both of those features were Italianate in style. Elsewhere in the house window surrounds are molded architraves. The north wing on the house of two stories may date as early as 1888 when the house was used as a doctor’s office, but may also have been an addition made in 1909 when additional space for college use would have been required. It is two bays wide on the east and the first floor fenestration is blind. Window sash in the building is replacement 6/6. A south wing of two stories was added to the house. As the land slopes down considerably on this elevation, the wing’s first story is at the basement level and consists of an open arcade in front of the exposed brick of the basement level. The second story is two bays wide and five deep and has a hipped roof. It is surrounded by a porch with decorative Chippendale-inspired railing. 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 the Form B of 1977, “This house was moved from 70 Elm Street in 1909 when the site was chosen for John M. Greene Hall. It was relocated on College Lane north side of Paradise Pond, serving first as residence for the head gardener (Franklin King, Sr.) and then for Dean Bernard and for Dean Nicolson. The original site on Elm Street was granted to Edward Baker in the 17th century. Buildings in the early years were unrecorded. It was the property of Francis H. Stoddard in 1861 and was known subsequently as the Stoddard House. Stoddard’s predecessor on that site Aaron Breck who purchased the land ca. 1831 may have been the builder. Smith College rented the house between 1888 and 1909 to Dr. Copeland, a local physician. The Copelands moved when the house was moved to College Lane. My reference to this move was Miss Olive Copeland who lived in the house when it was at 70 Elm Street.” Subsequent research by Steve Strimer of the David Ruggles Center, Florence suggests that this house may have been one re-built by Moses and Judith Breck after a fire ca. 1850 that destroyed the ca. 1831 house. Moses and Judith Breck appear on the map of 1854 on the location of what was to become John M. Greene Hall. The fire was the result of arson by temperance advocates. Breck was a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Northampton, and his role may have precipitated the arson. The Brecks appear between 1850 and 1870 in the house of Judith Breck’s father, Ebenezer Kingsley at 67-69 Old South Street. According to Strimer the Brecks had $2400 worth of insurance, an adequate sum for rebuilding. Breck was a carpenter so it is likely that it was he who built this house, and it was he who sold the house to Francis H. Stoddard in 1861. According to Strimer, “He [Breck] would have been neighbors with Seth Hunt another white UGRR agent on Conz Street (house extant) and several families of African Americans. 1880 census shows him living with his nephew Aaron Breck, Jr. His obituary says he died in the house of his brother-in-law Elijah Kingsley who was in the South Street house. The deed trail available on- line ends with Judith Kingsley, Elijah's daughter. “ As further research is accomplished, it will be added to this form. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [7 College Lane] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.718 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. Hampshire County Registry of Deeds. Book 420 Page 501; Book 199 Page 203; Book 70 page 202; Book 66 page 600. 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 FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [7 College Lane] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 NTH.718 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 Breck House would contribute to a multiple resource listing on the National Register of Historic Places of properties associated with Abolition and the Underground Railroad in Northampton. In these Northampton locations, documented activities in support of the Underground Railroad transporting fugitive slaves to Canada took place. Here lived Aaron Breck who was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Though the house has been moved, its significance to an under-represented period in history might merit an exception.