Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

117 Beale 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 1883 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.

This handsome architect-designed brick gas station was built for A. C. Smith & Co. at a cost of $16,000 in 1926. The architects, Batty & Gallagher were already known in Quincy having just designed the Quincy Police Station, 442 Southern Artery, in 1925 and would receive the commission to design the Colonial Apartments, 57 Spear Street, in 1927. This is one of the few remaining period gas stations in Quincy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Building Permit.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
H. Hobart Holly, ed. Quincy: 350 Years, 1974, p. 4.
Diane Maddex, ed. Built in the USA. The Preservation Press, 1985.
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:
"Out of the need to service the automobile developed a building type that would become a ubiquitous cultural landmark - the gasoline station." ( in the U. S. A. , page 86) After a period of stations designed in fantastic shapes to attract customer, there followed stations built in a "functional" style meant to update the image of the oil company, which in turn were replaced by stations designed to blend in with neighboring structures, in terms of scale, building materials and/or ornamentation. This particularly fine brick gas station at 117 Beale Street was built in an attractive commercial style. Its architectural integrity emanates from the well balanced facade, -the subtle architectural decorative details such as the pineapple finials at the corners and the peak of the raised section of the parapet and the inset rondel with a raised design of a 1926 car (see photograph). Instead of the ubiquitous cement blocks on the side elevations, there is a well articulated brick wall whose expanse is broken up by the use of recessed panels framed by stepped bricks. The brick work is excellent. On the facade area horizontally placed bricks are separated by vertically placed bricks at the junction where the large garage doors meet the upper wafts, at the parapet and at the top of the doors. The door frames are slightly recessed by use of chamfered bricks. Such subtle details are rarely seen in a small commercial structure. The exception is this gasoline station designed by Batty and Gallagher who treated this small commercial building with artistic imagination and elegant functionalism. There are few gasoline stations which have survived from this period. This is one of the finest and worthy of recommendation to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as a fine example of an early 20th century gasoline station. "The gas station, itself the premier drive-in building has a history and a rich design heritage of its own and is a significant part of the built environment." in the U. S. A., page 87).

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