Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

206 Centre Street (The Brooks-Piper House)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Southwest Quincy neighborhood is bounded by the Southeast Expressway (west), Copeland-Common-Tinson-Suomi-Quarry-Granite (north), the MBTA tracks (east), and the Braintree Town Line (south). Southwest Quincy is similar to West Quincy as it was also the result of the phenomenal expansion of the granite industry which began in the early 19th century. Fueled by the first commercial railway (1826) and new techniques in quarrying stone, growth accelerated well into the 1900's. The late 1860's saw new techniques in polishing stone, which in turn spurred the growth of Southwest Quincy's granite working, polishing, and tool and machine shops. To meet the demands of the industry, the worker population grew and new immigrants, mainly from Sweden, Finland, Scotland and Italy, settled in the newly subdivided Bass Common and Captain's Plains with the Scandinavian node of settlement located at Brewer's Corners. Earlier important industries in Southwest Quincy were the grist mill (1640-1825) which produced the grain for the early inhabitants to barter between themselves and to trade for essential items imported from England, and the Wilson Marsh's coach lace business which operated from 1797 to 1837.

This area of Southwest Quincy was Nightingale land from the early days. In the mid-1800's, number 206 Centre Street was part of Thomas J. Nightingale's farm. One of Thomas J's heirs was Maria J., wife of George W. Brooks, a farmer. In 1878 she acquired the entire property as well as other land in this area. The Brooks family kept the property until 1908 when they sold to Walter E. Piper, a Boston dental supplies dealer, and the Pipers stayed in residence until 1956.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
H. Hobart Holly. "Brewer's Corner Formed by Granite Industry". Quincy History, Spring, 1982.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
H. Hobart Holly. "Quincy's Granite Hills Were Golden". Quincy History, Spring, 1980.
walter O. Nisu1a. "Granite Drew the Finnish to Quincy". Quincy History, Spring, 1984.
"Southwest Quincy: Then and Now". Quincy Neighborhood Housing Services. Text by Julie Johnson, Drawings by Joe Angelie, 1983.
"Walking Tour of Historic Southwest Quincy". Quincy Neighborhood Services ,1984.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This charming cottage built in 1856 has elements of the Gothic Revival with its lancet window in the gable and the Italianate with its segmentally arched dormer on the side slope of the roof. It was a simple traditional gable end to the street house with a side entrance and regular fenestration. Some time after 1878, probably in the 1890s (Hobart Holly notes on the property, 7/7/80) the house was enlarged. This probably meant the addition of the pleasant Queen Anne wrap-around balustraded porch wich is supported by columns and embellished with an angular corner projection capped with a hexagonal pointed roof. This residence is a picturesque component in the Centre Street streetscape and a reminder of Southwest Quincy's 19th century housing history.

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