Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

24 Adams Street (Carril Building)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Charles A. Howland, president of the venerable Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company, was probably the builder of the house next door to the Carrill Building at 26 Adam Street, as he is recorded as living there from at least 1876 past 1907. The Howland property, which in the 1870's directly adjoined the new handsome Adams Academy (National Register, 1872), included the present 24 Adams Street. Howland was president of the Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company , which was founded in 1851, from the years 1885 to 1909. He was truly the embodiment of the American dream as he entered the office as a clerk, served one year as adjuster of losses, one year as assistant secretary, twenty-four years as secretary and finally rose to the presidency.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1907.
Paul Robert Lyons. Quincy: A Pictorial History, 1983, p. 61, 63.
Quincy City Directories, 1868-9, 1898, 1910.
Quincy Patriot Ledger, Souvenir Edition, 1899.
Quincy Patriot Ledger, 100th Anniversary, January 7, 1937, p. G-8, G-9.
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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The misuse of historic details, the mixing of Greek Revival elements (the portico with square posts, presumably in imitation of a columnar porch) with Georgian details (broken Roman pediment over the entrance), minuscule, useless shutters, all indicate a failure in the builder's attempts to accomodate a Colonial Revival for an office building. A simple, well detailed brick and granite-trimmed modern structure would have been a better neighbor to the Adams Academy. It is part of the Quincy Center Local Historic District.

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