Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

12-24 Coddington Street (Court House)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The District Court of East Norfolk was established under Chapter 289 of the Acts of 1872. The Court convened for its first session in June of that year in the Old Town House of 1817, now the Central Building, 1357-1359 Hancock Street, and remained there until the late 1800's. Since that date, the Court has been located in the Adams Building, 1342-68 Hancock Street, the Shaw Building, 1258-70 Hancock Street (until recently the Bargain Center) and moved into its new building on Coddington Street in 1912. For 60 years this building was in continuous use as tbe District Court of East Norfolk until 1972 when a new Court House was built on Chestnut Street.

The Court House, erected at a cost of $82,000 and dedicated on June 1, 1912, was one of the first buifdings architect William Chapman would design for the City of Quincy. It was followed by the Montclair Scbool, 8 Belmont Street (1912); tbe Quincy Point Junior High Scbool, Edwards Street (1927) and the Merrymount School, 4 Agawam Street (1929). The well known Cram & Ferguson were the architects for the 1937 addition to the Court House having previously designed in Quincy the St. Chrysostom's Church, 1 Linden Street (1894) and the Quincy High Scbool, 70 Coddington Street (1924).

Following 1972, the Court House took on a new life as classrooms for Quincy Junior College which was chartered as part of the Quincy Public School system in 1958 and authorized to award the Associate of Arts and the Associate in Science Degrees in 1962. However, enrollment in the College is declining and such solutions have been suggested as becoming the Commonwealth's 16th community college or merging with Massasoit Community College in Brockton. If Quincy Community College should move out, there is the question of the future of the historically and architecturally significant Court House.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
The Boston Globe, March 21, 1986, p. 14.
William Churchill Edwards, Historic Quincy, Massachusetts, 1957, p. 53, 69.
H. Hobart Holly, ed. Quincy: 350 Years, 1974, p. 46.
Paul Robert Lyons, Quincy: A Pictorial History, 1983, p. 124.
Original plans, Maintenance Department, Quincy Public Schools.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Beaux Arts Classicism and Classical Revival architecture dominated the first two decades of the 20th century, particularly for public buildings. This 20th century classic revival was codified and universally accepted after the 1893 Columbian Exposition which extolled all that was grand in scale, symmetrical, and embellished with a rich vocabulary of classical ornament. The first manifestation of this revival was Beaux Arts classicism, luxuriant, elaborately symmetrica1 and rich in classic details, while the Classical Revival stage, the classicism is simpler and more oriented toward an American interpretation of Greek architecture. It was often used for government buildings, such as the Court House of Quincy. The 1911 structure, designed by William Chapman, is a two story yellow brick building, with a symmetrically organized facade whose focal point of ornamentation is a giant Greek pedimented, slightly projecting portico with two Doric columns in antis. The main entrance is recessed within this portico and is set under a plain entablature. Set on a high basement of granite and cement and fronted by wide steps, it evokes a pedimented Greek temple. Three bays, made up of rectangular windows with flared brick lintels and a keystone, are placed on both sides of the portico. A simple hip roof tops the building. The 1927 Cram and Ferguson addition and the 1960 Hoyle, Dolan and and Berry addition are placed in the rear of the building and are not visible from the street, hence allowing the Court House to retain its pristine classica1 character. It is an important component in the Quincy Center Local Historic District and one building in an enclave of four fine educational buildings on Coddington Street. Its future, as Quincy junior College is unsure. Careful and thoughtful consideration should be given to this excellent public building should it be recycled again; it deserves another reincarnation.

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