Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

Abigail Avenue (Adams School)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Adams School honors Quincy's famous father and son, President John Adams and President John Quincy Adams. Abigail Avenue, where the school is located, commemorates Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, who stood, with her small son, on the highest point of this hill to view the battle of Bunker Hill from the area now marked by a cairn.

The first Adams School, built in 1855 at a cost of $7000, stood on Phipps Street, just south of Christ Church Cemetery, not far from the present Adams Birthplace Local Historic District. After 1913 it was known as "Old Adams" and was demolished in 1924. The present Adams School, with its panoramic view of Quincy and Boston, was built on a high hill acquired from the Adams Real Estate Trust at a cost of $8000.

The hundreds of people who attended the Adams Family Reunion held in conjunction with the House and Closing Ceremonies in 1981 more than equaled those attending the dedication of the school in 1913. The Closing Report comments: "From toddlers to octagenarians, from students to alumni, from near and from far, Adams reunited one last time."

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Dedication Book to Adams School Parents, Students and Staff on the Occasion of the Closing of the School, 1981 (typewritten).
Original plans, Maintenance Department, Quincy Public Shcools, September 1, 1965.
"The Schools of the Adams District" by H. Hobart Holly. City of Quincy, Quincy Public Schools. Closing Report of Adams School.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Between 1901 and 1920 Quincy witnessed a period or unprecedented school building (twelve in this inventory). The discipline of pedagogy, school philiosophy and school architecture were well established and numerous books on these subjects appeared then, amongst them the 1902 School Architecture by Edmund March Wheelwright. The author thoroughly explored educational systems and structures in Europe and in the United States. The majority of the American buildings shared certain characteristics in massing: they were self contained buildings (compared to the campus plan of later years), generously fenestrated, with a central axis, side pavillions and decorative elements in the classical revival or colonial revival mode. The Adams School and the Wollaston School, both designed by A. H. Wright in 1913, manifested these tenets as well as those suggested in the 1911 American School Houses, American School Buildings by Fletcher B. Dregsiar: "good light and clean air ... undisturbed spaces".

The Adams School, sited on a high basement of ashlar granite blocks, has a symmetrical facade composed of a large center section dominated by five keystoned tall arched windows and a central entrance and two side pavillions which project slightly. The architectural ornamentation is classically derived: an entrance topped by a flat entablature and framed with plain pilasters, brick quoins articulating the corners, and constrasting string courses which, with the stylized low pitch pedimented parapet of the central roof, emphasize the building's classical horizontal massing. The design is institutional style at its best. Not only is the facade elegantly composed, it also states clearly the function of the building. The tall arched windows of the second floor light the largest room in the school, once the "assembly room", later the "media center", and the stair halls, while the other windows, generous in number, belong to the classrooms. The building is a fine example of a Colonial Revival school structure which has served its community well. It deserves respectful treatment in its next incarnation as an apartment complex.

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