Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

44 Bigelow Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Charles Miller inherited the large 86,000 square foot property on Miller Stile Road, which included the location of the present 44 Bigelow Street, from his father, the Reverend Ebenezer Miller, first Rector of what is now Christ Church, in 1763. From Charles Miller the property descended to Edward Miller, who built the c.1822 building at 36 Miller Stile Road, then to Edward's nephew, George T. Bigelow, in 1873. For a short time, Dr. William Everett, the headmaster of Adams Academy, owned the property but then it reverted back to the Bigelow estate. In 1912 Henry Munroe Faxon, president of the National Mount Wol1aston Bank and son of the successful real estate entrepreneur Henry Hardwick Faxon, purchased the property.

Faxon decided restore to the Miller-Everett house at 36 Miller Stile Road as The Miller Stile Inn and commissioned Boston architects Frank B and Albert H. Wright and landscape architect H. J. Keliaway to design a development plan. This plan eventually included seven cottages, of which 44 Bigelow Street and 30 Miller Stile Road are the remaining two, on the land surrounding the Inn.

The cottages were built with no kitchen facilities, the understanding being that the tenants would take their meals in the main house. This practice ceased with the advent of World War II and five cottages were sold and the old mansion became a rooming house. In 1960 the South Shore Chamber of Commerce purchased the entire property from the Faxon Trust and renovated the old Miller-Everett residence for their offices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Baxter, Sylvester. "The Miller Stile Inn, Quincy, Mass.". Architectural Record, July 20, 1920.
"Dedication of the Robert Morrison Faxon Conference Room at the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, Inc." December 19, 1979.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
Historical Sketch of the City of Quincy: Illustrated Souvenir. Issued by Quincy Lodge of Elks No. 943, 1924.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This fine Colonial Revival house was built by Henry Munroe Faon as part of a real estate development which included the main house at 36 Miller Stile Road, an elegant Federal residence, as an inn and seven "cottages" of which 44 Bigelow Street was one. It was not its size that labeled it as a "cottage" but rather the fact that it was kitchenless, for the tenants were meant to take their meals at the inn. An article in the "Architectural Record" of July 1920 describing the development wrote of the difficulty of maintaining large estates for "domestic service" personnel was difficult to come by, hence the concept of "cottages" which would provide some service amenities and still retain the pleasures of suburban living. This was meant to replace the other alternative, cramped apartment living, which was perceived to not be appropriate for children. The author, Sylvester Baner, wrote "The results were quite in keeping with the historic dignity and residential attractiveness of the property and its environment in a typical old New England town." Designed by Albert H. Wright, 44 Bigelow Street is a simple Colonial Revival house, with a square configuration, a hip roof, a granite foundation, a symmetrical facade of three bays and a fine columned pedimented portico. The fenestration is regular, composed of sash windows which are shuttered, with the exception of the second floor center window which is double It is a pleasant traditional house set in attractive suburban surroundings, a reminder of one of Quincy's early "development plan."

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