Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

284 Adams Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Number 284 Adams Street is included for technical reasons in the Hospital/Presidents/Cranch Hill neighborhood but it actually relates more to the history of Adams Street. All of Adams Street was a section of the old Boston-Plymouth Highway and a primary 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 history of 284 Adams Street is a bit unclear and can be confused with 270 Adams Street which is located directly behind it. Both properties could benefit from a title and deed search that would pinpoint the exact age and owners of the existing buildings. It appears that the first resident of 284 Adams Street. in the 1870's was a William Greenough of Boston, who used the house as a summer residence. Next came Timothy Reed. a Boston leather merchant, in the 1880's. The Reed family had a long record of residence and retained the house until about 1910 at which point it was acquired by Walter E. Burke, a Boston insurance broker. Burke's son Roydon inherited the property and is listed as owner in 1930. Roydon was the owner of Roydon Burke Insurance, located in the Adams Building at 7 Temple Street in Quincy Center.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass, 1876
Robinson's' Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass, 1888.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1897.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1907.
Building Permits, alterations.
H. Hobart Holly. Quincy Historical Society.
Quincy City Directories
Scully, Vincent T. Jr. The Shingle Style and The Stick Style Yale University Press, 1971

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Stick Style residences which have retained their architectural integrity are rare in Massachusetts. This is one of the finest which has survived with most of its elaborate decorative details intact in excellent condition. It will be recommended that 284 Adams Street be nominated for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as a fine example of an 1870s Stick Style house with its Queen Anne carriage house.

The Stick Style evolved out of the mid-19th century picturesque revival styles in particular the Gothic Revival of Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) and flourished in house pattern books of the 1860's and 1870's. In time, this decorative style will lead to the exuberant Queen Anne Style. Characteristics include angularity, verticality, asymmetry with a great deal of emphasis on the wall surface as a decorative element. The residence at 284 Adams Street is replete with Stick Style details. They include the steep roof complex, the asymmetry of the massing, the contrast of void and solids, as seen in the clipped gable treatment with their bargeboards framing the recessed areas, the projecting window hoods, the irregular fenestration and in particular, the walls which are "skeletally articulated" (V. Scully, page 4) with clapboards contained within the usual indication of the major members of the structural frame. The elevations of the house show a stringcourse consisting of vertical boards, contrasting with the horizontal clapbaords. This motif is repeated at ground level, under the bracketed eaves, at the base of the gables and at the base of the large one story bay window. The richly bracketed entrance porch is another fine Stick Style element which enhances the house's picturesque quality. The dominant features are the clipped gables which seem to hover and protect the house while imbuing it with character. Of particular interest is the existing large carriage house, (see photograph) also with a complex hip roof structure and walls articulated with scalloped shingles. Its quiet massing and enveloping roofs indicate that it was probably built a decade later, during the Queen Anne period. It is a major contributing factor in the Adams Street streetscape and one of the most interesting period houses in Quincy.

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