{"nrhp_refnum":"05000217","name":"Smith, Thomas and Esther, House","other_names":["Mathew Noble House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"251 North West St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Agawam","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.075457769000025,"lon":-72.69501762399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-06-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1½-story vernacular Georgian house with a gambrel roof at 251 North West Street in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, Massachusetts, dated ca. 1757-1790. It stands on a one-acre lot with a garage and an older barn.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant for architecture. It has an unusual plank-frame construction with scribe-rule marking, a four-room center-chimney plan and well-preserved Georgian paneling and door details. It is also tied to the Smith family, who held the land from 1757 until 1843, and to early agricultural settlement in Feeding Hills. Tree-ring dating of two attic members gave 1789, and the house is tentatively dated ca. 1757-1790.","narrative":"Set in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, this 1½-story gambrel-roofed house sits on a one-acre lot among 19th-century farmhouses and open fields. It is dated ca. 1757-1790 and is vernacular Georgian in style. Its main block is three bays wide with a large center chimney and a four-room plan, and a later ell is attached on the west. The frame is unusual: wide vertical planks were set between the posts and beams, and the rafters carry scribe-rule marks. Inside, raised and feathered paneling covers the fireplace walls of the hall and parlor, and the kitchen has beaded sheathing and a rear-wall bake oven. The land passed from the Nobles to the Mixers, and in 1757 to Thomas Smith, Jr., a carpenter and housewright who is a probable builder. The Smith family held it until 1843. Two attic timbers dated by tree-ring analysis to 1789. The property also has a pre-1850 barn and a garage, and the form rates its archaeological potential as high for historic remains.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Thomas Smith, Jr., carpenter and housewright, is named as a probable builder; George Mixer is named as a possible builder.","architectural_style":"Colonial/Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant; the ell was earlier altered into an apartment and some windows and finishes have been replaced.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.711296-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/7951/63795181/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/05000217.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000217/e42d93c56e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000217/e42d93c56e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_and_Esther_Smith_House,_Feeding_Hills_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_and_Esther_Smith_House,_Feeding_Hills_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795181","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_and_Esther_Smith_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7795404"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/smith-thomas-and-esther-house-05000217/"}