Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

Beale Street at Grandview Avenue (Beale Street Wall)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Beale Street is the division between the neighborhoods of Wollaston Hill to the south and Montclair to the north. This magnificent granite wall, which runs west on Beale Street from Grandview Avenue. was probably constructed at the time of the development of Wollaston Hill and specifically the cutting of Grandview Avenue and Park Street directly behind it. The Beale Street wall is directly comparable to the well-known walls coursing thorough Faxon Park which were constructed by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930's. It is one of Quincy's most powerful. reminders of the natural beauty of its native stone.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Harley J. McKee. Introduction to Early American Masonry. National Trust/Columbia University Series on the Technology of Early American Building. 1973.
Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass, 1876.
Robinson's Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass,1888

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This 600' long granite "coursed random rubble" (McKee, page 32) wall is an important landscape element in the Wollaston Hill/Forbes Hill neighborhood. Not only does it delineate the sloping edge of Beale Street, its curvilinear top line follows the contour of the land. The granite workers were conscious of the land's form and responded to it with sensitivity in the design of this granite landmark in Quincy. It is important not only for its function as a retaining wall, but also as a graphic reminder of the extraordinary times when granite was a such an significant factor in the economic life of Quincy.

Back