Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

24 Chestnut Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
This one-story commercial building is located on the site of the first of five town house built by William Lyman Faxon in 1874. Besides being active in Quincy real estate, Lyman was surgeon in the 32nd Massachusetts Volunteers in the Civil War and the first Superintendent of the National Sailors Home in Wollaston. The 1876, 1888 and 1897 Atlases of the City of Quincy show William L. Faxon as owner of the entire block on Sea Street, which was until the 1870's an earlier name for Chestnut Street. Lucy Faxon Washburn, the sister of William L. Faxon, is listed as owner of the entire block in 1907. By 1923 the block had been divided into five separate ownerships and only the central three sections remain today (1986).

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass., 1876.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1897.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1907.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
Quincy City Directories, 1915, 1930.
"Sprague Genealogy of Old Braintree Families". Microfilm at Quincy Historical Society.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This 1947 commerical one story building replaced one of the fine 1874 Italianate town houses, once part of a five unit complex. It is a simple store front design composed a glass wait framed by yellow brick piers. The double door is slightly recessed. The parapet is plain with a slight projection in the center. In 1979, when its function was changed from that of a market to a delicatessen shop, it underwent alterations which improved it: the large plate glass window was replaced by smaller paned windows and an attractive sign took the place of the intrusive, out of scale market sign. It is its location in the center of the district that makes it a part of the Quincy Center Local Historic District.

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