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NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) .OMB. No. 1024-0018 RECEIVED 2280 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service 177 OCT 28 2038 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested.If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.
Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name. Chesterfield Center HD other names/site number. 2. Location street & number Main Rd, South St., North St., Bagg Rd, Bryant St. (See Data Sheet.) -_ not for publication city or town. Chesterfield - vicinity state Massachusetts _ code_MA_ county_Hampshire code_015 _ zip code _01012 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination - request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
In my opinion, the property - meets - does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant - nationally - statewide & locally. (- See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Brona Simon Otober 17, 2008 Signature of certifying official/Title Brona Simon, State Historic Preservation Officer Date Massachusetts Historical Commission State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property - meets - does not meet the National Register criteria. ( See continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. National Park Service Certification 1, hereby certity that this property Is: E entered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet.
- determined not eligible for the National Register - removed from the National Register - other (explain): ignte ot the Keepe iatuck Andum Date of Action 12/11/2008 Chesterfield Center HD Name of Property 5. Classification wnership of Property Check as many boxes as apply x private x public-local - public-State - public-Federal (Check only one box) - building(s) xdistrict - Site _ structure - object Hampshire, MA County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing 62 19 14 1 _building _ sites _ structures _ objects 81 20 - Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) N/A 6.
Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC/single dwelling _SOCIAL/meeting hall/grange GOVERNMENT/town hall/post office EDUCATION/school/library RELIGION/religious facility/church-related residence FUNERARY/cemetery AGRICULTURE/ agricultural outbuilding Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC/single dwelling SOCIAL/meeting hall/grange GOVERNMENT/town hall/post office EDUCATION/library RELIGION/religious facility/church-related residence FUNERARY/cemetery AGRICULTURE/agricultural outbuilding COMMERCE/general store Z. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) EARLY REPUBLIC/Federal MID 19" C./Greek Rey./ Italian Villa LATE VICTORIAN/Gothic, Queen Anne LATE 19* & 20" C.
REVIVALS/Colonial Revival Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundation_STONE/granite BRICK wallsWOOD/weatherboard, shingle SYNTHETICS/vinyl ASBESTOS roof ASPHALT, METAL other Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA DESCRIPTION The town of Chesterfield is one of the hill towns of western Massachusetts in the eastern foothills and west: the Dead Branch and the East Branch of the Westfield River. Chesterfield Center Historic District extends in four directions from a crossroads of Route 143 (Main Road), which runs east and west.
North and South Streets run in their respective directions. Short sections of Bagg Road and Bryant Street are also included. The institutional core of the town, Chesterfield Center has the First Congregational Church, the Grange Hall, town offices, a library, museum, the Hilltown Community Development Center, and a post office. The one commercial building is a general store. The rest of the buildings are houses and their outbuildings - mainly barns, carriage houses, a former doctor's office, and garages. There are 63 contributing buildings in the historic district and 18 noncontributing. There is one contributing site - the Center Cemetery on North Street - and one noncontributing site- the Phillips Russell Memorial Park. Nine gravestones and markers within the cemetery are described below as representative of the resources in the cemetery.
These are counted as contributing objects on the district data sheet. All noncontributing resources were built or created after 1958, which is the end of the period of significance (see section 8). With time, noncontributing resources could become contributing, but this nomination would need to be revised accordingly. A description of the key and representative resources in chronological order follows: Georgian Style (1750-1776) Residential Few Georgian buildings remain in Chesterfield Center but one well-maintained example is the Eleazer and Elizabeth King House, 61 South Street, ca. 1775 (MHC #19). This is a 1½-story, side-gable house with a center chimney. It is five bays wide and three bays deep, with a secondary entry on its south façade.
Characteristic of many Cape houses of the late 18'h century is a center window flanked by a pair of smaller fixed light windows in the gable end with clipped eaves. In this case, the fixed light windows were placed much closer to the center window than was customary. The center door surround is Greek Revival in style, an early 19t*-century alteration. It is trabeated with full-length sidelights at each side. Windows on the principal façade are 6/2 and are Georgian in their narrow width and placement close to the eaves. Attached to the house at its southwest corner is a clapboard-sided carriage barn wing three bays long. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 2 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Federal Style (1776-1820) Chesterfield Center has a number of Federal style buildings that range from very modest to high style, from 1½ to 2½ stories in height. Institutional The Edwards Memorial Museum (3 North Street, 1810s, MHC #82) was originally an outbuilding moved to its current site and converted first to summer cottage then to museum use. This south-facing building is a 1½-story, raised Cape- form building that is three bays wide and two bays deep. It has a center door and a pedimented portico that extends on lattice sides and rests on posts, which are Colonial Revival features often seen in the 1920s on cottages. The small building has concrete foundations and an asphalt shingle roof. Windows on the east elevation are 8/8, but on the north and second floor they are 6/6.
Residential The John White Chadwick House (15 South Street, MHC #10) has been dated 1794. The house sits on a large corner lot that is wooded and bounded by low stone walls. This is a conservative, Federal-style house, two stories in height under a side-gable, asphalt-shingled roof with a center chimney, rather than the double interior chimneys favored by the Federal style. One of the best preserved of the Federal style houses in town, it contributes to the architectural history of Chesterfield, representing the modest two-story version of the style in contrast to the more elaborate and later Starkweather-Edwards house at 416 Main Road. Curiously, there is no basement under the house, nor are there visible footings. The east-facing, shingle-sided house has a two-story ell on the west, followed by a one-story, clapboard sided ell.
There is a screened porch on the south side of the first ell and a one-story wing on the north side of the house. The main block is five bays wide and one bay deep. It has a center entry with a trabeated surround. Pilasters support a flared entablature. The surround encloses a Federal-style, seven-light transom. Windows of the main block are 6/6, small in scale, and on the second floor they penetrate the frieze, which is a conservative feature of the house -- more often found in the Georgian style than the Federal in this region. South of the house is an English style barn with a tin roof. The Joel and Beulah Warner House (369 Main Road, MHC #20) is thought to date between 1796 and 1830. Screened by a dense row of bushes, the north-facing house sits somewhat lower than the road, with a pond and wetland on its south and west.
It is a vinyl-sided, Cape Cod form house, being 1½ stories in height under a side-gable roof. Judging from the remaining buildings of the period, the Cape Cod form was more prevalent in Chesterfield than the 2 - 2½ story house. Where the building departs from its contemporaries is that the south side of the gable roof has been extended to form an uneven saltbox profile. The asphalt shingled roof has a small center chimney and its eaves are clipped narrowly in the gable ends, a feature more common in the late (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 3 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA 18" than early 19" centuries.
There is a one-story wing on the east, which has a full-width porch on posts across its north elevation. Both wing and porch have metal roofs. The house has low stone foundations. The main block is five bays wide and one bay deep. Windows have 6/6 sash, a Federal feature, and the center entry has a trabeated surround with pilasters supporting a fairly wide entablature. There is a small shed on the property. A barn reported on the survey form of 1984 no longer exists. The Dr. Robert and Sally Starkweather House (416 Main Road, 1822, MHC # 5, photograph #1) is the most high style of Chesterfield Center's Federal houses. Set on a large lot and set off from the street by a wood picket fence, it is a two-story house under a hipped roof with two interior chimneys. The house is five bays wide and four bays deep for a nearly square plan.
What distinguishes the house is its fine architectural detail. The asphalt-shingled roof has a wide overhang, its soffits ornamented with modillion blocks, and at each corner of the house are paired, reeded, corner pilasters, a highly unusual feature in the hill towns. The center entrance to the house is late Federal in design, consistent with its 1822 date. It has an architrave surround that encloses an elliptical fanlight and half-length sidelights with geometric patterned muntins. Windows in the main block of the house have typical 6/6 sash. Attached to the west side of the house is a two-story, flushboard-sided wing. The wing is an asymmetrical six bays long and has applied arches with keystones outlining two bays that have been converted from wood shed to garage use. There is a pair of 12/12 windows in the third bay, a single 12/12 window, a door, and a sixth bay of 6/6 sash.
On the second floor of the wing are three bays of 12/12 sash. The wing may have been integral to the house in 1822 with subsequent alterations during the late 19th century. There is a secondary entrance to the house on its west façade. The entrance has a narrow trabeated surround with a high transom in the Federal style. A later addition to the house is a north ell whose offset front gable is visible at the junction of the wing and the main block. East of the house is a freestanding Federal-style office of one story beneath a pyramidal hipped roof with a center chimney. The small, clapboard-sided building is three bays wide, two bays deep, and its windows have 12/12 sash. The center entry to the office has a trabeated surround. Northeast of the house is a tiny clapboard-sided, wood playhouse.
The Jonathan and Mary Anderson House (19 Bagg Road, 1768 and 1820, MHC #8, photograph #2) is two houses conjoined. The earlier house is a 1½-story, Georgian period, Cape Cod-form house with a metal roof and clapboard siding. There are two front-gabled and pedimented dormers on its roof. It was originally five bays wide with a center entry. Now, however, two of its bays have been covered up with a three-sided bay window. Attached to the Cape at a right angle on its south façade is a two-story, hipped roof, Federal-style house. It is two bays wide on the east, and on the first floor a three-sided bay replaces the two windows. Windows on the second floor have 15/15 sash. This section of the house is five bays deep, and the windows at each story are tall and relatively narrow in Federal fashion. When the two houses (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page4 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA were joined, the Federal section was attached to the Georgian section so that its main entry faces north. As Bagg Road passes by the east side of the house it makes the Cape the primary elevation. The center entry of the Federal section is intact and quite fine. It is a tall and narrow entry with a trabeated surround whose pilasters sit on high blocks. It has a transom light over the door, a high entablature, and projecting cornice. A porch links the two house sections. Attached to the north side of the Cape is a single-story wing with vertical siding which connects to a board and batten sided, gable-and-wing section with a metal roof.
This is a complicated description because when the two buildings were joined, the carpenters tried to link them by means of the porch so they would read as one façade from Bagg Road. Across Bagg Road from the house is a New England style, side hill barn with a pond at its rear. It has an attached single-story equipment shed on its south elevation with openings on the eastern, pond side. There is an additional small barn southwest of the house. Greek Revival Style (1820-1850) Institutional A defined Greek Revival style was led off in Chesterfield by the First Congregational Church (404 Main Road, 1835, MHC #1, photograph #3). The south-facing clapboard building is set on dressed granite block foundations on a slightly raised corner lot at the intersection of Main and North Streets.
It follows the church form developed during the Federal period of a front-gabled building preceded by a shallow entry vestibule, and a tower or steeple placed forward on the roof. The Chesterfield Congregational Church turned the Federal form to Greek Revival style by forming Greek temple-like pediments on the vestibule and the main block of the building with full eaves returns. The pediments are flushboard sided for a stone, temple-like appearance. The two-story vestibule is two bays wide, with two entry doors on the first floor and two windows on the second floor. The building is five bays long, and sash in the window openings is 12/12. The two stage bell tower is composed of a sturdy, square, clapboard-sided base separated by a narrow stringcourse from the second stage, a square, flushboarded belfry with louvered openings on each side and the corners framed by paneled pilasters.
The louvered openings have architrave surrounds with corner blocks. The belfry has a slightly projecting cornice and is topped by a balustrade that alternates paneled sections with sections of railing. Attached at a lower level of the lot on the east side of the church is a 2½-story wing three bays long and three bays deep on brick foundations. Its ramped entry is beneath a shed roof in the angle made by the wing and church block. The church roofs are asphalt shingled and it is clapboard sided. Windows on the south elevation have shutters. Recently, a well house on the property was moved to the Bisbee Mill site. Directly across Main Street from the First Congregational Church is Chesterfield Center's second Greek Revival-style institutional building, the Methodist Church (403 Main Road, 1845, MHC (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 5 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA #16, photograph #4). The building is located on a high corner lot and incorporates a ledge outcropping on the west into its brick foundations. This is a front-gabled, two-story building that follows a Greek Revival form that spread through the region during the 1840s. This is a form that has two Doric columns (distyle) in front of a recessed entrance (in antis). Flanking the recessed entrance are two outer bays separated by paneled pilasters. The north elevation is entirely flushboard sided and the remaining elevations are clapboard sided. The eaves of the front gable make full returns for a pediment, and the entablature continues along the sides of the building.
There is a wide rake at the eaves level of the pediment, a feature that is relatively common in the region. The recessed entry is three bays wide. All three bays are arched; a center double-leaf door beneath a fanlight is flanked by arched, full-length,9/9 sash windows. The building is three bays long, and its windows have 12/12 sash. On the east side of the building is a later brick addition of one story with a brick chimney that rises from it through the cornice of the church. Residential The Walter and Julia Rose House (426 Main Road, ca.1843, MHC #7) may predate both the Congregational Church and the Methodist Church; its stylistic features are much more modest due to its history and alterations. It is a 1½-story, Cape Cod form building on fieldstone foundations.
It presents a south gable end to the street and was originally west-facing, an orientation that would have provided a vista over the Westfield River valley. There is a full- width porch added across the south façade, which has been enclosed on the west end by a row of four 1/1 windows. One open bay of the porch at the east end has a remaining corner post. A one bay by one bay addition was put on the southwest corner of the main block of the building, which obscures its original elevation. The eaves of the gable make full returns to form a pediment and there are wide pilasters at the house's corners, both of which are Greek Revival features. The asphalt- shingled roof has a small center chimney. A north ell is 1½ stories in height under a gambrel roof, with two shed roof dormers on both east and west sides.
More elaborated and considerably less altered as a Greek Revival style building is the Dr. Daniel and Jane Perry House (16 South Street, ca. 1848, MHC #11, photograph #5). The house is set on a broad lot at the outer curve of South Street and is shaded by three enormous maple trees. It is a 1½-story, wood-shingled house with a front-gable roof whose eaves make returns. The main block of the house, three bays wide, is typically Greek Revival with broad corner pilasters and a side entry with a surround of pilasters supporting an entablature that is bisected horizontally by a narrow fillet. The side hall entry house rests on stone foundations and has a tin roof on which there are two shed-roof dormers on the south elevation. The entry to the house is sheltered by a portico with lattice sides. The house has an added, one-story screened porch on the north.
There is a one-story wing, three bays long, attached to the south elevation of the house. The wing has a tall chimney rising from its metal roof and a full-width porch on posts across its west facade. The wing connects to a shingle-sided, front-gable carriage barn that also has a metal roof. Attached to (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Section number 7 Page 6 the carriage barn on its south façade is a barn extension of one story. It is two bays wide. The arn has a sliding track door in its center, and on the second floor it has a window band of a 6/t window followed by three fixed six-light windows and a second 6/6 double-hung sash.
This is good example of the connected farm buildings of New England forming a farmyard for improved efficiency. The Levi and Amia Stebbins House (445 Main Road, ca.1850, MHC #59) is a 2½ story, front- gabled house with a side-hall plan. The simple plan and elevation is common to the more modest of the mid 19**-century vernacular buildings. The Stebbins House is vinyl sided and much of its ornament is no longer visible. Eaves on the asphalt-shingled roof are boxed and make returns; a small chimney is located midway on the roof. There is a one-story ell on the house's south elevation with a metal roof. The ell has an enclosed shed roof porch across its east side and connects to a barn at its south east corner. A three-sided bay was added to the east side of the main block of the house. Windows have all been replaced by vinyl sash.
Despite its alterations, the house, connected ell, and barn are representative of the connected farm buildings of the 19"h century. The Nathan and Nancy Wilder House (388 Main Road, ca, 1854, MHC #86) is typical of the smaller Greek Revival houses in form but not in detail. It is a 1½-story, south-facing, front- gabled house that is now vinyl-sided. Greek Revival cottages of the time typically were three bays wide with a side entrance for a side-hall plan. Here, two of the front windows have been replaced with a stock bay window, however. The house rests on fieldstone foundations and has a 1½ -story wing on the east with an attached garage one bay wide. The wing and attached garage have concrete foundations. Linking the house and the wing is an added porch on turned posts. All the windows have been replaced with vinyl 1/1 sash. There is a larger garage at the rear of the house.
The Parnel Pierce Hatch House (8 South Street, ca. 1850, MHC #14) is a late Greek Revival- style house that was given Queen Anne stylistic features at a later date, making it rather eclectic at the present. It is a two-story, front-gabled house, three bays wide, with a side entrance long favored in New England for the economical floor plan that resulted. The eaves of the front gable make returns. The Greek Revival door surround has pilasters supporting an entablature, which is now obscured by an added Queen Anne porch. The door is framed by full-length sidelights. The main block of the clapboard-sided house is five bays long and windows have 6/6 sash. A brick chimney has been added on the north façade and built through the eaves. Attached to the east side of the house is a two-story ell, followed by a single-story ell with a woodshed.
The land drops away on the east so that the basement is exposed on the final ell. To give the house a Queen Anne appearance, brackets were attached at the eaves and a two-sided porch on turned posts was added across the west and south facades. The posts have scroll-cut brackets at the porch eaves, and the last bay on the south has been enclosed. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page l OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Gothic Revival Style (1830-1850 & 1870s) Residential Although there is only one example of the Gothic Revival style in Chesterfield, it is beautifully represented by the Monroe and Susan Bryant House (9 South Street, 1873, MHC #94, photograph #6).
This is a 2½-story, front-gabled house with a steeply pitched roof. The lapboard-sided house is Greek cross in plan, with 2½-story transverse gables at each side. Th angles formed by the main section and the transverse gables are filled with single-story porches on chamfered posts with brace brackets at their eaves. The front-gabled section of the building is one bay wide. There is a three-sided bay window on the first floor, a pair of 6/6 sash on the second floor, with footed sill and segmentally pedimented lintel with scroll cut ornament in its field. On the third floor is an ogive-arched window. There is a 2½ - story ell on the west, which has a secondary entry at the southeast corner. A corbelled brick chimney rises from the asphalt shingled roof. North of the house is a 1½-story summer house with a steeply pitched, front-gable roof ornamented with scroll-cut barge boards.
The three bay house has a porch on three sides supported on chamfered posts. There is an exterior stair on the south side of the building. Walls of the summer house are laid in a Stick Style pattern of panels and cross bracing. Sash in the building is 2/2. South of the house is a two-story carriage barn with a side-gable roof, with a front transverse gable occupying the breadth of the roof. Centered on the roof is a cupola ventilator. The clapboard-sided carriage barn is two bays wide, including a double leaf horse and carriage entry and a single window. Italianate Style, (1850-1870) Residential The Italianate style is well represented in Chesterfield Center by two houses on South Street and Main Road. The more elaborate of the two is the Dyar and Sally Bancroft House (409 Main Road, 1860, MHC #3, photograph #7).
This is a 2½-story building with a side-gable metal roof, with interior chimneys at each end of the roof. Wide roof eaves are supported on all sides by overscaled and closely spaced, scroll-cut brackets. The house is five bays wide and three bays deep. Centered on the north or street façade is a shallow, hipped-roof, portico on paired chamfered posts, with arched braces between posts. Crossed braces separate the paired posts. The portico eaves are also bracketed. The portico railings are paneled, as is the center entry door. The corners of the house have quoins in high relief. Attached to the west side of the house is a 1½-story wing with a porch across its street elevation. It is three bays long and has a center door entry that is paneled similar to the door of the main block of the house. Both the main house and the wing are on stone foundations.
West of the house is a shop building that also serves as a garage. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 8 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA The George Parker and Alma Baker House (12 South Street, ca. 1854-1873, MHC #13) is a windows have 2/2 sash. The clapboard-sided house rests on brick foundations and has an asphalt- shingled roof. It is three bays wide, with the side entry of a side-hall plan house. The trabeated door surround is made up of pilasters supporting an entablature and is a composition that was popular in the 1830s and 1850s in the surrounding towns as Greek Revival. On the north façade is a one-story, glassed-in porch. Window lintels on the house are projecting drip edge.
There is an added exterior chimney on the south that rises through the eaves. The land on which the house is situated slopes away to the east, and an ell on the east side of the house connects it to a side- hill, clapboard-sided dairy barn. The dairy barn has a metal covered roof with a cupola ventilator. There is a small equipment barn south of the house and a single bay, shingled garage on the south as well. Traditionally identified as a Greek Revival-style house, the Ira, Sophronia, and Dorothy Clapp House (444 Main Road, ca. 1850-1860, MHC #60) is closer to the Italianate style, though it is clearly a mid-century vernacular building with modest stylistic ornament. The Clapp House is a gable-and-wing form house with a front gabled section to which is attached a second wing of 1½ stories.
The roof of the main block of the house has wide, thinly boxed eaves, no returns, and small brackets at its eaves, suggesting Italianate intentions and a date closer to 1860 than 1850. The main block is three bays wide with a side entrance, which is its strongest stylistic feature -- the entry is recessed and framed by an Italianate style, eared architrave surround. The recessed door has flanking, full-length sidelights. An original porch that traversed the wing has been enclosed by five windows. The wing has been extended, double-leaf doors installed, and a cupola placed on its roof. There is a New England-style barn east of the house, closer to the road. It has openings across its east façade for equipment storage. There is a second farm building west of the house, a chicken coop.
French Second Empire (1860-1880) Residential Chesterfield has one building addition and one freestanding building designed in the French Second Empire style, which is characterized by a mansard roof and was more often constructed in the urban areas of the region. The building addition - the Chesterfield Hotel (1904)-is attached to the Dr. Albert and Matson Belden House (397 Main Road, 1895/1904, MHC #47), which is discussed under the Queen Anne style. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page9 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA The freestanding example is the Methodist Parsonage (57 South Street, 1848-1850/ca.1865, MHC #21, photograph #8).
The parsonage began life as side-gable house and got its mansard roof in an updating ca. 1865. The vinyl-sided, 1½ story house is three bays wide and two bays deep. Its bell-curved mansard roof is asphalt shingle covered and has through-cornice dormers on all visible sides. The east or street façade is three bays wide with a center, double-leaf, three- aneled door flanked by two picture-sized windows of 2/1 sash. The door surround is compose f fluted pilasters supporting an entablature with a dentil trimmed cornice. There is an adde one-story room at the northwest corner of the building and an added exterior stone chimney. A porch on thin turned posts covers three sides of the building.
Northwest of the house is a carriage Queen Anne Style (1880-1910) Institutional and Commercial With its visually lively pressed sheet metal exterior, the Chesterfield Grange #83 (400 Main Road, 1914, MHC #84, photograph #9) may be seen as late Queen Anne/Colonial Revival in style. An idiosyncratic building stylistically, it is 1½ stories in height under a front-gabled roof. Placed on land that slopes away to the east, the Grange Hall has high exposed foundations on the west and on the east becomes 2½ stories tall. It is three bays wide and four bays long, and its pressed metal siding is in a rusticated or rock-faced brick pattern. Windows have 2/2 sash. The front entry is a porch on turned posts with an added access ramp. On the street façade there are three arched windows: two flanking the center door and one in the gable. There is a rear wall chimney.
Residential The Queen Anne style is modest in Chesterfield Center, as it is in most of the rural hill town communities of western Massachusetts. The Congregational Parsonage (419 Main Road, 1885, MHC #6) is representative primarily for its plan, which is complex and meets the style's interest in creating varied volumes on the interior. It is a 2½-story, north-facing house with a front-gable, asphalt shingle roof and transverse gable bay on the east. The roof is thinly boxed and makes no returns, which suggests a practical approach to its trim at the time of construction. There is a two- story ell on the south, and attached and perpendicular to the ell is a vertically sided, English style barn with a metal roof. The end of the transverse gable bay has a three-sided bay window on a paneled base.
On the second floor it has a pair of narrow windows and there are arched, louvered vents in this and the main gable ends. The main entry to the house has a trabeated door surround with half-length sidelights and appears to be a later alteration. The ell has an open porch on turned posts on the west and a screened-in, shed-roof porch on the west. The house has concrete foundations. The wood sided barn has two entries - pedestrian and double-leaf vehicle doors. There are two windows on the main elevation with 6/6 sash. A shed roof extension at the rear of (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Section number 7 Page10 the barn is novelty-sided.
Placement of the house and barn at angle to each other created an efficient barnyard now further defined by a wood fence. The Baker General Store (6 A-B-C South Street, ca. 1892, MHC #15) follows the pattern of other Queen Anne-style buildings in Chesterfield. It is 2½ stories in height, under a front-gable roof. It has a 2½-story wing on the north and a transverse gable bay on the south. At the inner angle formed by the wing and main section is an unusual three-sided, angled bay window. The building is entirely vinyl covered, and windows have all been replaced with 1/1 vinyl sash. Foundations are brick and the roof is asphalt-shingle sided. The first floor of the three-bay main block has a porch on turned posts. The porch has been glass-enclosed on its north and south ends.
Above the porch at the second story is an open porch that extends along the south side of the building to the transverse gable bay. There is an access ramp with turned baluster railing leading to the front door. Though it is not stylistically defined as Queen Anne, the house at 53 South Street (1890, MHC #111) was constructed during this period. It is the late 19"*-century version of a raised Cape with through-cornice dormers added to the principal façade. A similar house is found in West Chesterfield at 653 Main Road, though the latter is much narrower. Now vinyl sided, the house is a simple three bays wide and three bays deep for a nearly square plan. It has a center chimney on its asphalt shingled roof and rests on brick foundations, which were customary during the Queen Anne period. Windows are replacement 6/6 and their openings reduced in size.
There is a one-story, shed-roof, screened-in porch on the south. Almost directly across the road from the Chesterfield Grange is the Dr. Albert and Matson Belden House (397 Main Road, ca. 1895, MHC #47), which in 1904 became the Chesterfield Hotel. This is a 2½-story, gable-and-wing house with a wraparound porch on three sides. The porch has a metal roof. As is the case of the Congregational Parsonage at 419 Main Road, it is primarily the form of the building with its variety of shapes, rather than architectural details, which gives the building its stylistic identity. The house has a 2½-story, mansard roof addition at its southwest corner for a complex plan. The south side of the roof was raised to increase the south side of the building to three stories. The gable section is two bays wide, the wing is three bays wide, and the entry to the house is at the angle of the two buildings.
The addition is one bay wide and four bays deep. Both sections of the building are vinyl sided, and there are vinyl replacement windows with 1/1 sash, an asphalt-shingle roof, and brick foundations. The house has lost any decorative trim dating from its Queen Anne origins. South of the house is a ca. 1890 carriage barn. During the Queen Anne period, the gable-and-wing house form continued to be used. The house at 25 A-B-C South Street (ca. 1880, MHC #110) is a good example. The west-facing building is (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Section number 7 Page11 2½ stories in height under a front-gable roof with a 1½ -story wing on the south.
The porch across the front-gabled section on turned posts and the use of brick for foundations reflects the Queen Anne style. The house was probably modest at the time of its construction, but the addition of vinyl siding and vinyl replacement windows may cover or replace some stylistic detail. Colonial Revival Style (1880-1956) Institutional The Colonial Revival style appears in several versions in Chesterfield Center. The Davenport School (422 Main Road, 1947-1948, MHC #79) is Colonial Revival in an over-scaled and even playful manner. Set on a lot that slopes away to the west, it is a one story-building on a raised basement beneath a shallow hipped roof. The school is three bays wide and two bays deep for a rectangular plan. The street façade is where the ornament is concentrated.
It has a pedimented center pavilion framed by broad pilasters and containing an entry with double-leaf glass and paneled doors. The door surround is trabeated with an elaborate swan's neck pediment in high relief, enclosing a five-light transom. The scale of the surround goes beyond classical models in an exaggerated way, presumably for a strong visual impact. The raised entry is reached by a concrete stoop. In the gable field of the pavilion's pediment is a Colonial Revival oval window. Flanking the pavilion are bays of three, 6/6, double-hung sash. The vinyl-sided building has broad corner pilasters which curiously hang unsupported above the raised concrete basement. The Chesterfield Library (408 Main Road, 1954, MHC # 81) demonstrates the enduring appeal of the Colonial Revival style, which remains popular in New England today.
This fine mid 20'h- century example is a one-story building on concrete foundations with a side-gable roof and an end-wall chimney that rises through the roof on the west. The eaves make shallow returns in the gable ends. The clapboard-sided building is three bays wide, the center bay being a front-gabled, half-enclosed portico on piers. At each side of the portico is a window of 8/8 sash framed with shutters, and the building has paneled corner pilasters that rise to a full entablature with a wide frieze. There is a row of dentils just below the frieze. Occupying the frieze across the portico is a wooden "Library" sign. On the east elevation is a three-sided oriel window supported on scrolled brackets. There is an access ramp to the entry portico.
Residential The house at 398 Main Road (1900, MHC #119) is a vernacular Colonial Revival building whose decorative features are so few it is almost utilitarian. It is a 2½-story house with a front- gable, asphalt shingled roof. It is four bays wide, but on the first floor, two of the window bays have been replaced by a stock oriel window and a third window removed, leaving two bays. It has a side entry sheltered by a front-gabled portico on posts. Window and door surrounds have (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Section number 7 Page 12 simple drip edges. The house is wood shingle sided, a Colonial Revival feature, and the roof makes returns at the eaves.
The house rests on brick foundations. It is four bays deep for a rectangular plan, and at the northwest corner is a second entry, also sheltered by a front-gabled portico. Closer to the road is a shingled well house with lattice trim and adjacent to the house is a shingled two-bay garage with a Colonial Revival-style gambrel roof. The William Whiting House (412 Main Road, 1892 and 1965-70, MHC #4, photograph #10) achieved its early Colonial Revival style through 20" century alterations to a simpler Colonial Revival house. The very large house is 2½ stories in height under a gambrel roof. It is three bays wide and five bays deep, and there are two interior chimneys on the asphalt roof. It is clapboard-sided on the first floor and shingle-sided on the second floor and in the gables.
There are gable end overhangs at each side, supported on small brackets and oval windows in each of the gable fields -- Colonial Revival features from 1892. Foundations are brick and fieldstone. Windows in the main block have 6/1 and 12/12 sash. The center entry is a double leaf door of wood and glass in a trabeated surround. The main block is trimmed with a wide skirt board. North of the main section of the house is a 1½-story ell with a gambrel roof, followed by a one- story ell connector to a gambrel roofed, two-bay garage, which is vertically sided. At 424 Main Road (1938, MHC #78) is a house form that was particularly popular in the early decades of the 20** century, the American Foursquare. While the house form may have been Colonial Revival in origins, its often unboxed wide eaves and lack of ornament were inspired by more modern trends in architecture and economy.
This two-story foursquare has a pyramidal hipped roof of asphalt shingles. Square in plan, the house has concrete foundations and an added, one-story, shed-roof as well as an enclosed porch across the street façade, which obscures its main entry and fenestration. The house is shingle sided, and windows have replacement sash of 1/1 and 6/1. Residential versions of the mid-20"* century Colonial Revival are the two houses at 435 and 437 Main Road (1950, MHC #143 &144). The two are Cape Cod form, Colonial Revival-style houses. The house at #435 is 1½ stories with a steeply pitched, side-gabled, asphalt-shingled roof with a center chimney. There are connected front-gable dormers on the street elevation for a variation on the standard elevation. The house is three bays wide, and the center entry has a shed roof portico on posts flanked by two picture windows.
There is a one-story wing on the east. Vinyl sided, now the house has all vinyl replacement windows. The house at 437 Main Road is a variation on the Cape Cod with a one-story, shallow projecting section on the street elevation with a through-cornice dormer. Like its neighbor it has a side-gable, asphalt shingle roof and is three bays wide with a center entrance. The house is three bays deep and has is a secondary entry on the east façade which gives access to its large corner lot. To add space to the attic level of the house, there is a rear, shed roof dormer. The house has been vinyl sided, has 6/1 sash and an exterior chimney. It has concrete foundations. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Section number 7 Page 13 Craftsman Style (1905-1930) Residential Chesterfield Center Historic District has one Craftsman style building. It is the house at 26 South Street (1912 MHC #152), which is a 1½-story, shingle-sided bungalow. The west-facing house has a side-gable roof that extends across the front to create a porch on posts. There is a one-story wing on the south and an exterior stone Craftsman-style chimney on the north elevation. Modern Style (ca. 1935-present) Ranch Style (1950-1975) Residential Set back behind a low stone wall, the house at 6 North Street (ca. 1950, MHC #147) is a modern ranch-style, one-story house with a side-gable roof. It faces west.
The clapboard-sided house is four bays long and one bay deep, and on the south it is connected by a one-story breezeway to a two-bay garage. The integral garage is a feature of the ranch house. On the north is a short wing set back from the plane of the façade. The asphalt shingled roof of the house has a wide eaves overhang. Window sash is 6/1.The house has concrete foundations. Park The Phillip Russell Memorial Park (South Street, 1976, MHC area A) is a recreational park about an acre in size. The primary entry to the park is on South Street, but there is a secondary path to the park from Main Road. The land of the park slopes down towards the west and is grassy, with areas set aside for tennis, skateboarding, and children's play equipment. There are no trees within the park, but there are trees on both north and south sides of it. A gravel path connects the recreational areas.
A new granite post and wood-rail fence runs along the east, or South Street, side of the park. There is a pedestrian entrance in the center of the fence and a service vehicle opening on the north of the fence. Spaces have been set aside on the east side of the fence for parking. On the east end of the park is an area where children's play equipment is located - swings, slide and merry go round. There is a small skateboard area with five or six concrete structures on the south side of the park set back from the fence approximately 50 feet. A small, modern play structure is located just to the north of the skateboard area. A small, enclosed wooden equipment shed is on the north side of the park and a flagpole is near the street. Two tennis courts are surrounded by fencing. Just west of the tennis courts is a small brick restroom and open front pavilion on wood posts.
At the lowest area on the west is a baseball diamond with two dugouts. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Section number 7 Page 14 Monuments On the west side of South Street near the corner of Main Road is The Baptist Church Marker (1976, MHC #912) - a granite slab monument approximately three feet high with an attached brass plaque that reads, "Site of Baptist Church 1845-1874." In front of the Methodist Church (403 Main Road) is a small memorial with markers for the world wars and soldiers from Chesterfield who took part and lost their lives. There is a small Civil War Cannon (MHC #908) on a wood carriage.
It has a plaque that reads, "IN HONOR OF THOSE FROM CHESTERFIELD WHO SERVED THEIR CONTRY DURING PEACETIME." Behind the cannon are two marble boulders. On the left, the World Wars I and II Monument, (MHC #909) is about 3½ feet high and on its north side is a plaque the reads, "IN MEMORY OF THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS FROM CHESTERFIELD, MASS. WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY DURING WORLD WAR II." There are thirty names listed and one starred for having died in the conflict. On the west side of the same boulder is a plaque that reads, "1917 1919 SONS OF CHESTERFIELD IN THE WORLD WAR.". There are twenty-two names listed. The second boulder, the marble Korean and Vietnam Conflicts Monument (MHC # 910) is slightly smaller, about three feet high.
It has on the north side a plaque the reads, "IN HONOR OF THOSE FROM CHESTERFIELD WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY DURING THE VIETNAM CONFLICT AUGUST 5, 1964-MAY 7, 1975." There are thirty names listed. On the west side of this boulder is a second plaque, "IN HONOR OF THOSE FROM CHESTERFIELD WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY DURING THE KOREAN CONFLICT JUNE 27, 1950-JANUARY 31, 1957." There are 18 names listed. Behind the two boulders is the Samuel Eddy Marker (MHC #911), a slab gravestone of marble about two feet high that says, "Samuel E. Eddy Medal of Honor Co. D 37" Mass Inf. June 2, 1822 March 7, 1909." An aluminum flagpole stands behind the plot. Cemetery The Chesterfield Center Cemetery (North Street, 1764, MHC #802, photograph #11) is about five acres in size and is marked at the roadside by a row of mature maple trees. The cemetery contains about 500 stones that date from 1773 to the present.
It is set a few feet back from the road and across its south or street end is about five hundred feet of fieldstone embankment, interrupted by two wide openings into the cemetery. Inset into the embankment is a holding tomb. A stone wall forms the south boundary of the cemetery, but the west has an iron pipe fence laid in granite posts. The north side of the cemetery has no material boundary and abuts an open field. The land of the cemetery rises slightly towards the west. There are two grass-covered lanes into the cemetery that are wide enough for vehicles and are entered through the openings in the stone embankments. Gravestones are laid out in rough rows and for the most part face east. The (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 15 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA surface of the cemetery is well-tended grass. There are two large cedar trees and one solitary pine at the Baker family plot in the cemetery, but the rest of the cemetery is without large bushes or trees and follows the Federal Period's preference for open, grassy cemeteries with stones arranged in rows. The materials of the gravestones are slate, brownstone, granite, limestone, zinc, anwmar Gos Sen. rie many ors arestonch en stn ,iforo te nic schiny are fied in the adlacent southern side of the cemetery, they are mixed throughout both south and north. The earliest stones are slab and tabernacle in form.
Later forms are obelisks and there are about twelve of those, and 20**-century stones are primarily low rectangular granite markers raised on bases. There are cherub's heads on the earliest stones, seemingly of several carvers. A good example is the Benjamin Kidd stone (1788, MHC #913) in the twelfth row. A very large granite stone, the top had a deeply carved cherub's head set within an unusual, stage-like frame. The crest and sides of the stone are ornamented with a geometric pattern. The tabernacle stones vary considerably in size from the large Benjamin Kidd stone and the Joshua Healy stone (1791, MHC #914), with a cherub face and radiating comma-shaped hair, to the relatively small Deborah Ewell stone (1796, MHC #915).
A companion stone to Joshua Healy's is that of Sarah Healy (1777, MHC #916), which is considerably smaller in scale and has a cherub face with small rosettes in the corners. By 1800 the weeping willow and urn carvings appear, such as the 1809 stone of Abigail Harris, (MHC #917), tabernacle in form but carved with the willow. Soon after, family plots appeared, such as the Russell family plot with a flat stone listing Solomon, Sarah & Mary Russell (MHC #918) and attendant footstones from the 1820s. Another is Robert and Sally Starkweather's family plot that is arranged around a central obelisk (MHC #919) with children's stones surrounding. The plot is enclosed with four granite corner posts whose linking chains are lost. The William C. and Susan Rice monument (MHC #920) is a sandstone column on a tall base and dates 1871, though her grave was added in 1887.
The Rhoads family erected (1868, MHC #921) a zinc monument, a low obelisk impressed and molded into forms that are still crisp today. Additions were made to it in 1918 and 1936. The largest grouping of stones, however, falls in none of these categories. A flat or slightly arched granite stone with no imagery is one of the most common stones to be found in the Chesterfield Center Cemetery. In date they range from 1811-1840s, and so could be the hand of a single carver or shop. Rather than an image or decoration, the uppermost carving is usually the first name of the person highlighted in a rectangular field. Lower on the stone the full name, birth and death dates, and age at death are carved quite simply. There is no momento mori inscription, nor is there a carver's signature. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 16 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA While the landscape is well tended, the condition of the cemetery stones is only fair. Three stones are set aside at the south wall. Many are tipping; quite a few are broken. The broken cemetery stones have escaped unsightly repairs, however. Archaeological Description While no ancient Native American sites are known in the district or in the general area (within one mile), it is possible that sites are present. Environmental characteristics of the district represent locational criteria (slope, soil drainage, proximity to wetlands) that are favorable for the presence of Native sites.
The district includes several well drained, level to moderately sloping stream terraces and hilltop areas in close proximity to wetlands. Bakers Brook flows southeasterly within the district from an unidentified pond north of Main Road and east of North/South Streets. Thayer Brook flows southeasterly, roughly parallel with South Street, within 1,000 feet of the western district boundary. Rocky Brook flows northwesterly from two unidentified ponds immediately north of the Bagg Road/Bryant Road intersection in the western portion of the district. The entire district is located within the Westfield/Connecticut River drainage. Town histories, secondary sources, and known sites in the area do not identify Contact Period villages or larger permanent habitation type-sites in the Chesterfield locale.
Instead, smaller special purpose, temporary sites used for hunting, fishing, gathering, and campsites along transportation routes are believed to represent potential site types in the area. Given the above information, the size of the district (273.64 acres), and the availability of open space, a high potential exists for locating ancient Native American resources in the district. There is also a high potential for locating historic archaeological sites in the Chesterfield Center Historic District, although many of the sites responsible for that potential remain to be identified, precisely located, and their significance described. Most archaeological sites in the Chesterfield Center Historic District continue the institutional and residential focus representative of the western Massachusetts agricultural hill town.
Historic archaeological sites may also survive that represent the district's commercial businesses that are largely absent in the district today. Permanent settlement began in Chesterfield by ca. 1760, first along Ireland Street, then in the Center, along South Street, and outside the district to Damon Pond Road. Dispersed areas of clustered settlement characterized early settlement in the town. Additional historic research combined with archaeological survey and testing may identify the locations and integrity of 18th and 19t century institutional, residential, and commercial buildings no longer extant in the district. While Chesterfield's first meetinghouse (1768) was built north of the district when Goshen separated from Chesterfield in 1791, the second meetinghouse was moved to the Center at the site of the present Congregational Church.
Structural evidence of the Second meetinghouse, barns, outbuildings, and occupational-related features (trash pits, privies, wells) (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 1 Page 17 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA may survive in the vicinity of the existing church. The Second Meetinghouse was demolished in 1835, prior to construction of the First Congregational Church at 404 Main Road. Structural evidence may also survive from a town house, also built in 1835, just east of the Congregational Church. The town house also served as a school. Structural evidence may also exist from a church built in ca. 1827 by the Free Baptists and Methodists at the corner of South Street and Main Road.
The church building was dismantled in 1874. The Baptist Church Marker on Main Road currently marks the site. By 1785, six school districts were set out in Chesterfield, and a seventh added in 1790 with the intention that a schoolhouse is built in each district. Archaeological evidence may survive from a schoolhouse build in the Center; one of the school districts; however, the exact location of the schoolhouse is unknown. Structural evidence may also survive from 18" and 19# century residential sites including farmsteads; however, few specific sites have been identified, indicating many buildings survive or remain unknown. Archaeological evidence of residential sites and farmsteads may include evidence of residential buildings, barns, sheds, and occupational-related features.
Structural evidence may exist from a house originally located in the vicinity of 369 Main Road that local tradition says was occupied by a Hessian soldier that deserted the British Army in 1777 and remained in Chesterfield. Structural evidence might also survive from the Congregational Parsonage, barns, outbuildings, and occupational-related features that burned in 1884 and was replaced by the current parsonage (1885) at 419 Main Road. Archaeological resources should also survive, with many of the 18" and 19" century residences that survive in the district along Bagg Road, Main Road, North Street, and South Street. Structural evidence may exist related to renovations made to the extant building, barns, outbuildings, and evidence of occupational-related features. Archaeological evidence of commercial related sites may also survive in the district.
Few commercial businesses survive as extant resources. Structural evidence from the Bailey Tavern, related barns, stables, outbuildings and occupational- related features may survive at the site of the existing Bancroft House at 409 Main Road. Similar archaeological resources may also survive from the Clapp-Kelso Tavern, also known as the Kelso Hotel, lost to fire, but originally located on the site of the Whiting House at 412 Main Road. Archaeological resources may also survive from the late 19" century Witherell and Engram store and the original Baker store and post office that burned in 1891 at the site of the new Baker Store (1892) on 6 ABC South Street. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 18 Chesterfield Center HD Chesterfield (Hampshire), MA Archaeological resources may also survive at the Chesterfield Cemetery, founded in 1766. (end) Chesterfield Center HD Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance