Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

19 Crabtree Road

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Squantum, Quincy's northern peninsula, is bounded by East Squantum Street (west), Dorchester Bay (north), and Quincy Bay (south, east). Like its North Quincy neighbors, Atlantic and Montclair, it was once part of Dorchester. These three neighborhoods, along with the Old North Precinct, which had split off from Braintree, became part of the Town of Quincy in 1792. At least two notable historic events took place at Squantum: In 1621 Myles Standish, and the Indian Squanto, made their first landfall in Squantum and in 1812 the lively Pilgrim's Feast, commemorating the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, took place. Also like North Quincy, the land surface of Squantum was primarily taken up with large farms. It was farms like the large Edmund Pope, Captain James Hutchins farm and Titus spreads that were subdivided by such developers as C. E. Carlson and John R. Wilson. As late as 1907, Squantum was less than one third developed with the major growth occurring between 1907 and 1923. Although Squantum had been a destination summer resort since the mid 19th century, it was not until after World War I that it truly became a year around community.

This imposing $9000 brick residence was designed by Milton architect F. N. Russell in 1935 for Leonard J. Frediani, a salesman. It is built on land that belonged to the family of George F. Burkhardt, a Boston brewer and important Squantum landowner, from 1876 to 1907. By 1911 the property was owned by Lotta M. Crabtree, a renowned actress who accumulated large real estate holdings in Squantum. Crabtree(1847-1924) who reached her height of fame in the 1870's and 1880's retired from the stage at the age of 45, and died in her own hotel ("The Brewster") in Boston.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Bunding Permit.
William Churchill Edwards. Historic Quincy. Massachusetts, 1957, p. 23, 61-62.
H. Hobart Holly, ed. Quincy: 350 Years, 1974, p. 50.
Paul Robert Lyons. Quincy: A Pictorial History, 1983, p. 16, 23.
Doris Oberg. Quincy Historical Society.
John Ramsdell. "Historic North Quincy [written about 1934]." Quincy Historical Society.
Rhoads, William B. "The Colonial Revival and American Nationalism". Journal of the society of Architectural Historians 35, no.4 (December 1976): 239-254.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
"From the beginning, the Colonial Revival was inspired by nationalistic sentiment - the desire to have in America an American style distinct from European modes." (Rhoads, page 239). This style which occured during the first half of the 20th century evolved out of the Shingle Style of the late 19th century which was already considered an American derived architecture as it was influenced by the early 17th century East Coast shingled houses. The Philadelphia Centennial first awakened interest in our colonial heritage and led architects such as Stanford White to travel throughout New England to study original Georgian and Federal houses. At the onset of the period, residences were rarely historically correct copies but rather free interpretations with details inspired by colonial precedents. Periodicals such as "The American Architect and Building News" published articles on "The Georgian Period" which eventually led to carefully researched copies with more correct details.

This Colonial Revival residence at 19 Crabtree Road is a fine example of an American Four Square house characterized by the square configuration, the hip roof, the hip roof dormer and the rectangular porch in the front. The brick of the walls is relieved with white trim in true Georgian fashion. The side wings are sympathetic to the house's architecture and were probably built at the time of construction. The house is fronted by a granite retaining wall. It is a fine representative of residential architecture of the 1930s in Quincy.It is an attractive component on Crabtree Road.

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