Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

86 Beach Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Wollaston/East neighborhood of Quincy is bounded by Quincy Shore Drive (east). Furnace Brook Parkway (south), the MBTA tracks (west) and Hayward Street-Hancock Street-Albion RoadVassall Street (north) . An outstanding feature of this area is the Josiah Quincy House (1770). Mansion house of the Quincy estate which derived from the original 1635 several thousand acre grant to Edmund Quincy of some of the best farmland in New England. A sizable portion of the estate was not subdivided for the development of late 19th and 20th century housing until the last Quincy sister died in 1893. Other important features in this area are the 83-acre Merrymount Park (1885); historic Blacks Creek. the site of Edmund Quincy's tidal grist mill; and the National Sailors Home Cemetery, the only evidence of the 80-acre National Sailors Home (1865. now demolished) of which 50 acres have become Conservation Commission land. The development process of Wollaston East was greatly accelerated by the Old Colony Railroad which began operations in 1845.

Beach Street was accepted by the City of Quincy from Willow Street to Quincy Shore Drive in 1894. Number 86 Beach Street, which was built on land included in the former Quincy Estate. is located on this stretch of road. The house was built for Hazen B. Chapman, a foreman. and the Chapmans, with remarkable longevity of ownership, were still in residence past 1935. An interesting alteration to the house occurred in 1935: the addition of a porch and outside fireplaces designed by Boston architect Robert Louis Stevenson and constructed by local builder Warren H. Greennough.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Building Permits. alterations.
H. Hobart Holly. ed. Quincy: 350 Years. 1974.
Robert A. McCaughey. Josiah Quincy, 1772-1864: The Last Federalist. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974.
William S. Pattee. A History of Old Braintree and Quincy. 1878, p. 310.
D. Foster Taylor. "Wollaston As It Was in the 1870's". Quincy History. Quincy Historical Society, no. 11, January 1985, p. 5.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
"From the beginning, the Colonial Revival was inspired by nationalistic sentiment - the desire to have in America an America style distinct from European modes." (Rhoads, page 239).;-This, style which occurred 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.

The residence at 86 Beach Street is a fine example of an early Colonial Revival Style with a wrap around porch of the past Queen Anne period. However, now the turned posts have become columns on bases and the balustrade is finished off with classic urn finials. The house has a square configuration and a hip roof pierced by large dormers embellished with lovely details. They include a dentiled pediment filled with a beribboned wreath (see photograph) and pilasters framing the two windows. A glassed-in porch was added in 1935 which was sensitive to the house's revival architecture. The fenestration is irregular, composed of single and double sash windows with small panes only at the top, typical of the early 20th century treatment. It is an attractive component of the Beach Street streetscape

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