Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

243 Arlington Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Montclair neighborhood in North Quincy is bordered by the Neponset River to the north, Beale Street to the south, Newport Avenue to the west and the Town of Milton to the east. It was once part of Dorchester and became part of the Town of Quincy in 1792. Like its neighbors. Atlantic and Wollaston. most of the community of Montclair was built in the first third of the 20th century. From earliest colonial times until the Civil War, North Quincy was referred to as "The Farms" and it was to the farmlands of Montclair that real estate entrepreneurs beckoned the nearby inhabitants of Boston and its suburbs. The Micaih Pope farm was one of the largest to be subdivided; Arthur D. McCellan cut it into street and house lots in 11893 calling it "Montclair". Other active real estate developers were Maurice E. Kilpatrick, Edward L. Parlee and Henry J. Grass. The development process 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 Boylston Adams House was built by Boylston Adams, son of Peter Boylston Adams and grandson of Deacon John Adams. in 1825. Its original location was nearby the Vassall-Adams House (National Register, 135 Adams Street) at 215 Adams Street, the present site of the Eventide Nursing Home. In 1878 the house was moved to 243 Arlington Street, an unfortunate choice as this area is heavily commercialized and industrialized and trucks park right beside its porch. Since 1878 it appears to have been a rental house, first owned by the Adams Real Estate Trust and then by Montclair realtor Lora C. Merrill in 1923.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
Hobart Holly, ed. Quincy: 350 Years, 1974. p. 4.
William S. Pattee, A History of Old Braintree and Quincy, 1878. p. 55.
John Ramsdell, "Historic North Quincy". "Written about 1934" . Typed manuscript at Quincy
Historical Society.
Daniel Munro Wilson, Three Hundred Years of Quincy 1625-1925, 1925. p. 280-281.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This 1825 Federal house was moved in 1878 and was set on an uncharacteristic high granite foundation. At that time, it is possible that the two story angular Italianate bay window was added to the side elevation and the Federal front door replaced by the present one with arched glass panes on the top. The unfelicitous front portico is a later addition., Although the house still retains its Federal identity as one can stiff note the compact massing, the original six pane sash windows and the five bay facade under the plain ridge roof, its architectural integrity was compromised by the move, additions and asbestos shingles on the walls.

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