Northampton Architecture- Quadrant 3

Main Street-South

This pair of granite-front commercial buildings opposite the First Church is attributed to Isaac Damon in a retrospective article in the Centennial Gazette. Three stories tall with an elaborate paneled and bracketed cornice, the Granite Stores are believed to the modeled on stores built in Boston during the 1820s as part of an urban building boom. In June 1825, Damon and his family visisted Boston to witness the laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument. Remaining in Boston three weeks, Damon is thought to have had the opportunity to study closely the new granite market buildings going up on each side of Faneuil Hall Market. The next year, in November 1826, Damon purchased land in Medfield containing a quarry of granite. Since Damon mortgaged the quarry to his creditors at the time of his bankruptcy, the stores were likely built between 1826 and 1828. At this time, one of the store fronts was occupied by the silvermaking shop of Nathan Storrs and Benjamin E. Cook.

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