Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

32 Chestnut Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Number 32 Chestnut Street is located on the site of the fifth and last section of a block of five town houses built by William Lyman Faxon in 1874. Besides being active in Quincy real estate, Lyman was a 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 town house 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, was listed as owner of the same block in 1907. By 1923 the block had been divided into five separate ownerships. In 1986 only the central three sections remain; the town houses at 24 and 32 Chestnut Streets have been demolished.

The Richard D. Chase Co., owner of the new building at 32 Chestnut Street is one of the oldest and most respected insurance firms in Quincy. Richard D. Chase, the founder of the firm in 1887, was a very prominent Quincy citizen, especially active in Bethany Congregational Church.

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.
Quincy Patriot Ledger, 100th Anniversary. January 7, 1937, p. D-18, G-7.
"Sprague Genealogy of Old Braintree Families". Microfilm at Quincy Historical SocietY.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This 1980s commercial one story building replaces one of the end buildings of a five unit complex of 1874 Italianate town houses. It is a simple modern building composed of glass walls rounding the corner and plain end walls. It is capped by an out of scale anodized aluminum facing, devoid of ornamentation. Located in the midst of an important business center, it did not use its corner location with a successful design. It is at the southern end of the Quincy Center Local Historic District.

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