Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

215 Adams Street (Eventide Nursing Home)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
All of Adams Street was a section of the old Boston-Plymouth Highway and a important settlement area in the early days. Along this road were the primary 1634 land grants after the Mount Wollaston area became part of Boston. These grants were given on the basis of four acres per head in the family to encourage settlement.

The William B. Rice Eventide Home, the result of a bequest by Quincy resident William B. Rice, was built in 1936. The Eventide Home had been founded in 1924 and from that time until 1941 operated out of the private residence of Mrs. William B. Rice. Mr. Rice, who had supported the development of the Quincy City Hospital, saw the need for a modern. adequate home for elderly people.

The $80,000 26-bedroom Eventide Home and the Quincy City Hospital Administration Building, also built in 1936, were some of the first Quincy commissions for architects Paul and Carroll Coletti. They went on to design the addition to the Thomas Crane Public Library in 1939 as well as the Houghs Neck Fire Station in 1947.

The Eventide Home is located on the site of the original 1825 Boylston Adams House which was built by Boylston Adams, son of Peter Boylston Adams and grandson of Deacon John Adams. In 1878 the house was moved to 243 Arlington Street, an unfortunate choice as this area is heavily industrialized and trucks snub up beside its porch.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Building Permit.
Paul Robert Lyons. Quincy: A Pictorial History, 1983, p. 159.
Quincy Historical Society Records.
Quincy Patriot Ledger, 100th Anniversary. January 7, 1937, p. B-1, E-17.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
In 1936 Paul and Carroll Coletti designed the Administration Building for the Quincy City Hospital at 114 Whitwell Street, one of the finest institutional building, in Quincy as well as the Eventide Nursing Home. Both were built in the Colonial Revival Style evoking Quincy's historic past. The architects used giant columns as prominent elements in both facades. The Hospital Administration Building has a large Ionic portico centered in the front while at the Eventide Nursing Home, the extremely long facade has been divided into five sections by the use of two Ionic pedimented and modilioned porticos which separates the longitudinal section into well scaled sections. The proportions of this elongated facade have been treated with sensitivity and creativity. The extensive use of white trim also alleviates the long front brick expanse. Although the fenestration is irregular, the windows are variations of Georgian types, sash windows with small panes. Some of the windows are round headed as on the center ground floor, others are rectangular ones and the wing on the left seems to be all small paned large windows with only piers acting as solid part in the waft. Particularly interesting are the oculus dormers on the center ridge slate roof. Further Georgian details include the quoins surrounding the main entrance and contrasting keystones on the ground floor windows. The large expanse of landscaped grounds is an appropriate foreground for this elegant institutional building on Adams Street.

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