Nomination for Simmons Block

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

FHR-8-300 (11-78) United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries - complete applicable sections 1. Name historic Simmons Block and/or common same 2. Location street & number 86-90 Park Street Adams city, town NA vicinity of congressional district state Massachusetts 3. Classification Category Ownership x district - public building(s) private structure both site Public Acquisition object in process being considered code 025 county Berkshire Status X occupied - unoccupied - work in progress Accessible - yes: restricted - yes: unrestricted X Present Use agriculture commercial educational entertainment government industrial military 4.

Owner of Property name Robert & Claudine Auge street & number 427 Church Street North Adams city, town N/A vicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Berkshire County North Registry of Deeds street & number 65 Park Street city, town Adams 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Inventory of the Historic Assets title of the Commonwealth has this property been determined elegible? date January, 1979 federal X state depository for survey records Massachusetts Historical Commission city, town Boston For HCRS use only received MAR 3 1982 date entered APR 1 1982 N/A not for publication First code 003 museum park 4 private residence religious scientific transportation other: state Massachusetts 02147 state Massachusetts 01220 - yes X no - county - local state Massachusetts 02108 7.

Description ADAMS: Sinmons Block, 86-90 Park Street Condition X excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one unaltered X altered Check one - original site moved date Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

The Simmons Block stands on the west side of Park Street, immediately south of McKinley sqone foundation and is enclosed by a straight-sided mansard The building is a two-and-one-half story wood frame structure which rests on a roof. Except as otherwise noted, the building's exterior is sided with clapboards. The building's plan is basically rectangular, although its major elevations (west and north) have a variety of projecting bays and recessed porches. Window on both major elevations is highly varied in the size and shape of panes, which serve as an important decorative element in the building desing. The facade (east elevation) is asymmetrical consisting of a flat section (southern 2/3 of elevation) and a projecting tower (northern 1/3).

The flat section of the facade has a wooden cornice at the top of the first story; beneath the cornice is a single entry with a bracketed hood near the structure's southwest corner, and two plate glass windows flanking two arched windows. At the second story are two tri-partite windows with 1/1 sash and basket arched transoms of colored glass; at the attic is a central gable with a panelled bargeboard and two windows. The gable is flanked by two dormers with tri- angular three-pane lights. The tower rises from a recessed porch, supported by turned posts, behind which is an original set of double doors. The tower's second story contains paired windows surrounded by decorative panels of diagonally set clapboards and incised wood panels. The attic of the tower contains a single window flanked by engaged columns above which rises a high hip roof with a decorative cresting.

The north elevation is highly varied in its structure and fenestration; unless other- wise noted, all sash contains decorative, geometric glazing. At its east end is the base of the tower which rests partially on turned posts, behind which a modern entry has been added (ca. 1960). At the second story of the tower are two windows, at the third are two decorative lights; a chimney decorated with a terra cotta panel rises through the tower's roof. At the first story, moving west from the tower's base, are a paired window, three 2/2 windows, and an enclosed porch. At the second story is a three-sided oriel window with panelled walls, a recessed porch with turned posts, and a decorative apron (behind which are one tri-partite and one paried window), and a paired window.

At the attic are three dormers and, at the building's northwest corner, an extremely ornate gable with a complex sash of colored glass. The rear (west) elevation is concealed by a three-story porch, most of which has been enclosed with louvred wooden panels. The porches first two stories are probably original to the building and are supported by square posts with brackets; the porches third story is likely to be an addition of the mid-20th century. The south elevation faces a narrow alley between it and a neighboring structure. Its first story is blank except for the area west of center where there are three small lights and a single entry. The second story is asymmetrical, containing two windows with decorated sash at its east end and elsewhere, 6 windows of varying sizes with 2/2 sash.

The east end of the attic contains one dormer with decorated sash; west of this dormer are 4 other dormers, each containing 2/2 sash. Alterations to the Simmons Block consist of the replacement of porch bases and railings at the facade, the possible removal of a shop entry at the center of the facade's first story, the addition of a new entry beneath the tower, and the addition of a third story FHR-8-300 (11-78) United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet item number 7 For HCRS use only receivedMAR date entered 3 1982 Page APR 11982 2 to the rear porches. None of these laterations affects the building's overall design, nor do they diminish the high quality of its ornate trim.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance Period prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 _1800-1899 1900 Areas of SignificanceCheck and justify below archeology-prehistoric community planning . archeology-historic conservation agriculture economics architecture education art engineering commerce exploration/settlement communications industry invention _ landscape architecture law literature military music philosophy -politics/government religion science sculpture social/ humanitarian theater transportation other(specify) Specific dates ca. 1885-1889 Builder

Statement of significance

/Architect Unknown Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Simmons Block possesses integrity of location design, materials and workmanship and as an unusually ornate example of the Queen Ann style meets criterion C of the NRHP. The Block was built between approximately 1885 and 1889, the year in which the town's First directory lists the building as the residence of Albert H. Simmons a furniture dealer and undertaker. Although the Simmons Block shares decorative details with other Park The Simons Bhok shanes Street buildings of the late 1880's and early 1890s, most notably the Park Stree Fire- house of 1890, the Block's wood-frame construction and domestic scale separateit from the more usual brick blocks of the period.

The building's tower, complexly glazed sash, de- corative panelling, porches with turned posts, scalloped porch aprons, oriel window, and other decorative trim mark it as the town's most complex and idiosyncratic example of Queen Anne style architecture. Although secondary sources and local directories are unclear, the facade's plate-glass storefront, set on a panelled based and capped by a decorative cornice, seems likely to have been part of the building's original design and may have been used by Simmons as a funeral parlor, a use which occupied the first story of the Block until the 1970s. Simmons' other business, a furniture store, occupied a separate building on the opposite side of Park Street. With the exception of the basement of the facade, one entry and the third story of the rear porch, the Simmons Block remains in original condition.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References City Atlases (1895 & 1904) and Directories (post-1889). 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property -125 acres Quadrangle name Windsor, Mass. UMT References AL48 1954149 Zone Easting cLULLILL ELL GLyI Quadrangle scale 1:24000 14,720/5,19 Northing LLLL LLLu LLL LLLI Easting Northing DLILLILL LILILLL F HU ILLL LLL LL LLIL Verbal boundary description and justification The nominated property includes only the rectangular lot on which the building stands; the bounds of this lot are described in the Berkshire County North Registry of Deeds, Record Book 680, p. 442; and in Plan Boo 240 H, Plan 99 (copy attached). List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state NA code county code state code county code 11.

Form Prepared By name/title Candace Jenkins, Registration Director, with Brian Pfeiffer, ACT for Massachusetts organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date January 1981 street & number 294 Washington Street telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston state Massachusetts 02108 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national _ state local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service.

State Historic Preservation Officer signature ahunc LVeslonski title Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commissiondate 2/17/82 For HCRS use only I hereby certity that this propenty is included intheeraeional Renister elous National Regtoter 2 Keeper of the National Register date 4/1/82 Attest: Chief of Registration date GPO 938 835 .i. NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES United States Department of the Interior Nationel Park Service EVALUATION / RETURN SHEET Property: Simmons. Block: State, County: MA, Berkshire Federal Agency: 82004951 Working No.- 3/3/82-597 Fed. Reg. Daie: ate Due: 4-1-82/4-17-83 Action: ACCEPT_ 4/1182 resubmission Intored In tha - RETURN_ nomination by person or local government Wationa1 Begitof - REJECT_ owner objection appeal maps 1 Substantive Review: - sampie - request _ appeal - NR decision Reviewer's comments: Recom. / Criteria Reviewer.

Discipline Date - _ see . continuation sheet -Nomination returned for: technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Kame 2. Location X 3. Ciassification Colaposs Crmnarship X Pubtic Acouisttion 4. Owner of Property Batus Accessibie Presont Use 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys hthis property beon desemmined eigibie? - - ros - no 7. Description Condition .exceient pood tar - derenorated ruins . unexposed Chock ene - unallered ahered Chock one _ original site mored darte - basertbo the prosor and erigiai (11 lunoun) pirpeicai eppouranco summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary sclection C.

Significance poried brons of Stgniscance Chack and hustity boker Spocific dates Pretomert el Significanoe (in ano paragrapia) Buiider Architect summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of excepticn other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data of nomineted property Quecranpie name UMT Fsterencas Verbel boundery description and justitication 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Mistoric Preservation Officer Certification The eraiuatec signiicance of this property withm the state is: _ naional _ stane - toca! Borte Hiatonc Praservation Otticer sipneture. dete 13.

Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Signed - Date Phone: 202 272-3504 Comments for any item may be continued on an ettached sheet Simmons Block Adams, Massachusetts Berkshire County Photo Credit: Brian Pfeiffer Negative filed: ACT for Massachusetts Identification: East and North elevations. Date: July, 1979 MAR 3 1982 MLLl MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Office of the Secretary of State 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 617-727-8470 MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY Secretary of State February 17, 1982 Ms. Carol Shull Acting Keeper National Register Division National Park Service U.S. Dept. of the Interior Washington, D.C. 20240 RECEIVED MAR 1982 NATIONAL REGISTER Dear Ms.

Shull: Enclosed you will find the following National Register nomination forms: AnETO Adams: Armory Block (local) Adams: Barrett Block (local) Adams: Berkshire Mill #1 (local - DOE 6/81) Adams: Jones Block (local) Adams: Mausert Block (local) Adams: Pittsfield & North Adams Passenger Station and Baggage and Express House (local) Adams: Simmons Block (local) Lawrence: American Woolen Mill Housing District (local) Melrose: Town Center Historic District (local) Milton: Belcher-Rowe House (local) Needham: Davis-Mills Hoase (local) Needham: Joshua Lewis House (local) Needham: Townsend House (local) Peabody: Nathaniel Felton Houses (local) Stockbridge: Glendale Power Station (local) Stockbridge: Wheatleigh (state) Webster: Main Street Historic District (local-DOE) Westfield: Octagon House (local) Weymouth: Old South Union Church (local) All were voted eligible by the State Review Board at their meeting on 2/10/82 and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer.

Comments by owners and other interested parties are attached. Owners and chief elected officials were notified of pending Review Board consideration on December 23; 1981. Sincerely, Candace jenkins Candace Jenki Registration Director CJ/amf -8/ Name ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES STATE MASSACHUSETTS Date Entered APRIL 1, 1982 Location Mausert Block Armory Block Adams Berkshire County Adams Berkshire County | Simmons Block Adams Berkshire County Octagon House Westfield Hampden County Notified Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Honorable Paul E. Isongas Honorable Silvio O. Conte Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, NPS North Atlantic Regional Office, NPS State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L.

Weslowski Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 For further information, please call the National Register at (202) 272-3504