NORTHAMPTON — Along Maple Street in Florence, close to the village center, stands a blue-colored house, built in 1865 in the Italianate architecture style.
Seemingly a normal residential house, concealed from the viewpoint of commuter traffic is an two-story addition to the original structure, its outer sidings made of pine boards with a pine tar and linseed oil sealant, a technique borrowed from Scandinavian countries to make the building long lasting, heat resistant and aesthetically pleasing.
The building serves as the new home of Jones Whitsett Architects, which recently relocated to Northampton from Greenfield, the firm announcing the completion of the move in August. For co-principal Dorrie Brooks and other members of Jones Whitsett, the move provided an opportunity architects rarely get — a chance to design their own office according to their own philosophy.
“You want it to reflect your values,” Brooks said. “It’s one thing to ask your clients to do the right thing, and then live in a building that doesn’t do it itself.”
As an architecture firm, Jones Whitsett focuses on publicly-owned and community-focused buildings, such as schools and affordable housing projects. Some of its more notable projects include the conversion of the former Wilson’s Department Store building in Greenfield into a 60-unit affordable housing space known as The Putnam, and the ongoing construction of a new high school in East Longmeadow.
“The people who come to work for us are people who really care about community and know that part of the job is going to be standing in front of public meetings regularly and talking about this work,” Brooks said. “We don’t do private residential, it’s just not even interesting to us.”
It’s that spirit that Jones Whitsett had in mind when it moved to its current location at 60 Maple St. in Florence, a historic building known as the Gladden House. The design reflects the firm’s desire to both respect the historic architecture of the neighborhood, in keeping the original home style in front, while also allowing for modern accommodation.
The front entrance area includes a newly-built ramp, providing greater accessibility and inclusion just as any proper municipal building would, Brooks said. Inside, many of the structural elements are exposed, providing transparency, powered by all-electric utilities and made mostly from locally-sourced wood. The firm arranges shared workspaces on both floors in such a way to deliver acoustics for proper communication.
“The roof, the angle of the ceiling helps. The carpet helps, this hole in the floor [staircase] helps,” Brooks said. “Secretly, we organize it so the louder people are there, the medium people are here and the quiet people are down below, but we move people around as times change.”
Originally founded by architect Margo Jones, Brooks and fellow co-principal Kristian Whitsett now run the firm, which employs 15 people. Brooks and Whitsett purchased the 60 Maple St. building in 2023, with Renaissance Builders of Gill constructing the new building.
For Whitsett, the collaborative space within the firm’s own building serves as a testament to the way Jones Whitsett does business.
“Our clients are often committees. It’s not like a residential jobs where you have a single client,” Whitsett said. “It’s a consensus process, and I think we take that relationship that we have with our clients and incorporate that in the office, where everybody’s involved in the design.”
Though many of its past work includes town offices and schools, Jones Whitsett has recently begun to focus more on affordable housing, with Massachusetts residents continuing to struggle with high cost of living. Jones Whitsett has become involved in several projects in its new home of Northampton to address this issue, such as a planned 30-unit project on Crafts Avenue close to City Hall and the planned Community Resilience Hub downtown.
“Every community we work in is different, and every has its own culture,” Brooks said. “We’re always working with a building committee that reflects that community. So we have to actually go through a process of figuring out what’s going to be appropriate there.”
Bobby Buttrick, a design associate at Jones Whitsett who works on design drafts and 3-D renderings, said he had originally planned a career in sports management before being drawn to the field of architecture in college.
“I just really liked how architects could help guide and take on the responsibility of assisting people in creating beautiful spaces, but also practical spaces,” he said. “You get a lot of really interesting, diverse type of work.”
