Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

142 Adams Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Boston architect Henry F. Keyes was the designer of this splendidly landscaped home directly across from the Vassall-Adams House, 135 Adams Street (National Register, 1732). Built at cost of $20,000 for washing machine dealer Percy S. Yerza, the house was constructed by local builder W. Freeman Grant. Yerza had previously bought 52 Greenleaf Street in 1924 but was moving up the economic ladder with this clearly expensive new home.

The Yerza residence was built on land that had belonged to Charles Francis Adams until his death in the late 1880's and then passed on to his heirs in the form of the Real Estate Trust. Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886), was the son of John Quincy Adams and the minister to Great Britain from 1861-1868 during the Civil War. His two sons, Charles Francis Adams II and John Quincy Adams, were the principal leaders within the Adams Real Estate Trust.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Building Permit, 1914.
Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass, 1876.
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.
Quincy City Directories, 1897, 1907, 1923.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The Tudor Revival was one of the popular eclectic revival styles of the first quarter of the 20th century. Loosely based on a few characteristics of the Elizabethan and Carolean periods (16th and early 17th century), it has its origins in England in the 1830s and in the United States in the 1850s through the publication of the books by Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) who thought the style appropriate for a country residence for it had a "quaint and happy effect." Characteristics of the style include half timbering detailing, a multiplicity of gables, large elaborate chimneys, varied walling materials, steeply pitched ridge roofs, superimposed gables, casement windows with leaded panes, tudor arches and at times, castellated parapets. The house at 142 Adams Street exhibits numerous characteristics of this picturesque style: the large half timbered gable on the facade, stucco and brick as walling material, with the brick delineating the first floor from the second, two tall chimneys, irregular fenestration and the overall asymmetric massing. The well tended formal gardens recall English prototypes and create an attractive setting for the residence. It is a fine picturesque component of the Quincy Center Local Historic District.

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