Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

7 Blake 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. 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 development process of Wollaston East was greatly accelerated by the Old Colony Railroad which began operations in 1845 as well as by the advent of Quincy's extensive street railway system.

The colonial house at 7 Blake Street was probably built by Ebenezer Crosby in 1740. At his death in 1746 it passed to his brother Joseph whose daughter Abigail, wife of Samuel Bass, inherited it in 1769. It was long a Bass residence. It was owned for a time by Josiah Quincy and his heirs who rented it to many tenants. among them George B. Wendell, proprietor of the George B. Wendell & Co., Quincy Granite Works, stone contractors, cutters and polishers. Number 7 Blake Street was once on a very large plot and directly visible from Hancock Street. It had a long extension out the rear that joined a barn. In between 1907 and 1923 the property was reduced to 4725 square feet, the back ell was removed,a porch added to the facade, and the old house was hemmed in by structures on both sides. After 1960 the porch was removed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1897.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1907.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1923.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
H. Hobart Holly, ed. Quincy: 350 Years, 1974.
Robert A. McCaughey. Josiah Quincy, 1772-1864:The Last Federalist. Cambridge: Harvard University Prass, 1974.
William S. Pattee. History of Old Braintree and Quincy, 1878, p.310.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This residence is one of the few 18th century houses which has survived in Quincy. Unfortunately, numerous changes, additions and modifications have altered the residence so that it is not eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. However, one can still recognize that it a fine colonial house by the compact rectangular massing, the windows set tightly under the eaves of the ridge roof, the typical five bay facade and the regular fenestration of the second floor. The entrance has been oriented to the left of the facade, which does not face the street, and is presently covered by a portico with double columns, probably added during the Colonial Revival period in the 1920s. The long windows on the ground floor facade date from the 1830s remodelling, reflecting the Greek Revival influence. It is still clad in wood clapboards. It is an interesting reminder of Quincy's 18th century days.

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