Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

16 Faxon Avenue

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
In 1857 Cotton C. Johnson, who owned an apothecary at 73 Hancock Street (old address), was the owner of a large lot (29,195 square feet) on Hancock Street which today encompasses 1246-1250 Hancock Street, 15 Saville Avenue, and 14 and 16 Faxon Avenue of the Quincy Center Local Historic District. By 1888 Johnson had built a large house on the lot. Eugene S. Taylor, a Boston dentist, and his wife, Fannie M., had bought approximately half the lot or 14,930 square feet, by 1897. The 1923 Atlas shows the Taylor lot with the house at 1246-1250 Hancock Street, a stone (cement) rectangular building at current address 14 Faxon Avenue and a house at current address 16 Faxon Avenue. It appears that the present multiple residence at 16 Faxon Avenue was built in the 1880's.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
H. F. Walling. "Map of the Town of Quincy", 1857.
Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass., 1876.
Robinson's Atlas of Norfolk County, 1888.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1897.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1907.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1923.
Quincy City Directories, 1878, 1888, 1898, 1915, 1922.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This sadly neglected simple Queen Anne house built in the late 1880s has, in spite of its condition, still remaining some characteristics of its style. They include the original front and side porches with turned posts supporting a roof decorated with a cut-out frieze pendant shaped shingles in the front overhanging gable, the original walling material, wood clapboards and the cross gable side projection typical of a gable end to the street urban Queen Anne House. It is set on a granite foundation and has a slate roof. There is still hope for this component of the Quincy Center Local Historic District.

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