Damon House

A large, two-story historic house with light yellow horizontal siding features dark green shutters on its numerous multi-pane windows. The central front entrance is framed by a white-columned portico covered with a dusting of snow, and a festive green wreath hangs on the white front door. A white picket fence runs along the snow-covered front yard, partially obscured on the left by a slender, bare tree branches laden with bright red berries. The roofline is accented by an decorative white rooftop railing against a clear blue sky, while patches of snow cover the ground and the top of a mailbox post to the right.
Damon House, 2021. Built in 1813 by architect builder Isaac Damon for his own family. It remained in the family until it was acquired by Northampton Historical Society in 1944. Few changes have been made.

The Damon House was built in 1813 by Isaac Damon as his family residence. He was an architect-builder who came to Northampton in 1811 to build the fourth meetinghouse on Main Street. When his first wife died in 1812, he married a local woman, Sophia Strong and settled permanently in Northampton. Together they raised their eight children in this house. 

This is one of a few examples of Damon’s residential architecture. It was built in the federal style with its symmetrical facade and low-pitched hip roof capped with a balustrade, square mass, and interior end chimneys. The small porch over the front door is topped with the same balustrade that appears on the roofline. The house and shutters are painted their original colors. 

When Damon purchased this lot, there was another house on the lot, presumably built shortly after 1770 when the lot was bought by the Thomas Lavake family. Records show that it probably looked like the Parsons House, next door to the Damon House, now property of Historic Northampton. Damon must have taken down the Lavake house to build his own.  

The Damon’s daughter, Jane Sophia Damon (1816-1898) and her daughter Jane Damon Smith (1853-1943) also made this house their home. A rear wing was added at some time before the Civil War, and later still a small additional kitchen.

A black and white photograph of a large, two-story historic house with a light-colored exterior and dark window shutters. The home features a flat or low-pitched roof lined with a decorative balustrade and a large, central chimney. A small porch with an ornate upper railing protects the front entrance on the left side of the building. A white wooden picket fence runs along the front of the property, separating the house from the foreground. Several mature, leafless trees stand in the yard, their bare branches partially obscuring the facade of the house.
Damon House, 1865. Photograph by Ingram Brothers Studio, Northampton. Historic Northampton (ID no. 56.865).

In 1944, the Northampton Historical Society (now Historic Northampton) acquired the house after the death of Jane Damon Smith. The modern meeting and exhibit wing was added in 1985 on the site of the original carriage house. 

Damon practiced in the Valley for forty years. He built 13 churches, four courthouses, two bridges over the Connecticut River, and the First Church, courthouse and town hall on Main Street in Northampton. 

Learn more about Isaac Damon and his architecture.

A black-and-white photograph showing a historic downtown featuring three distinct, closely positioned multi-story buildings and a large, leafless tree centered in the foreground. On the left side of the scene stands a prominent, grand church featuring a multi-tiered bell tower topped with a tall, slender spire and a weather vane. The church facade is designed with classical architectural elements, including a row of grand columns at its entrance, multiple rows of multi-pane windows, and a round clock face positioned high on the tower structure.To the right of the church, a smaller, narrower three-story commercial building sits slightly back from the main line of the square. The storefront displays prominent, vintage signage reading "EAMES & WHITE" on the lower level, with additional text above reading "GAZETTE PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT" and "BOOK & JOB PRINTING".Positioned to the right of this commercial building is a large, leafless deciduous tree with an expansive network of branches spreading across the center of the image.Further to the right stands a large, majestic courthouse building with a Greek Revival design. Its facade features a grand portico supported by prominent columns, and the roofline is crowned by a central octagonal cupola with a domed top. The side of the courthouse stretches back along the right edge of the frame, lined with uniform rows of large multi-pane windows and several tall chimneys rising from the roof. The foreground consists of an open, unpaved square with dirt paths leading toward the buildings.
Isaac Damon’s 1812 church and courthouse as they looked in a photograph taken in 1864. The church burned in 1876, the courthouse was replaced in 1886.

Further Reading

Aieta, Nicholas J. The White Church of Blandford (Images of America). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2022.

Merrill, David O. “Isaac Damon and the Architecture of the Federal Period in New England.” Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1965. 

In the early 1990s, the house was studied by architectural conservators who prepared this Report on Building Archaeology at the Isaac Damon House. Prepared by Gregory Clancey and John Leeke, 1992. 

 Historic American Building Survey (Library of Congress)