Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

41-61 Bedford Street (Streetscape)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Hospital Hill/Presidents Hill/Cranch Hill neighborhood of Quincy is bounded by the MBTA tracks (east). Granite Street-Quarry Street (south). Quarry Street-Common Street (west), and Common Street-Furnace Brook Parkway (north). A key feature of this elite residential area was the extensive Charles Francis Adams Estate which was divided by the 1890's into three great real estate trust controlled properties called President's Hill, President's Hill Annex and Cranch Hill.Cranch Hill is located on the former homestead of Richard Cranch who. together with Joseph Palmer, is credited with the early industrial development of Germantown. Other features of this area are the smaller estates that lined the south side of Adams Street, the Quincy City Hospital at the top of Cranch Hill and the stone quarries lying to the east of Quarry Street. The close proximity of the Quincy Depot (which served the Old Colony Line to Boston), the City Hall, the street railway. and the city's financial center were major factors in the successful development of this area.

All five double residences on this Bedford Street streetscape were built on the original Charles Francis Adams estate which was acquired by the Cranch Hill Real Estate Trust by 1897. All five houses are located on spacious lots, varying from 6000 to 6600 square feet. Two of the houses were built on speculation in 1911 by local owner/builders: Number 47-49 at a cost of $3800 by Oscar A. Swanson and Number 51-53 by Godfrey Dattman at a cost of $3600. The properties were owned in the 1920's by such people as Victor Gustafson, a machinist (Number 47-49) and Sven Mattson, a boilermaker (Number 59-61).

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
"A Brief Historical Sketch of the City of Quincy, mass., Issued by the President's Hill, President's Hill Annex, and Crancb Hill Real Estate Trusts". c. 1903.
Assessors Records.
Robinson's Atlas of Norfolk County, Mass, 1888.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1897.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1907.
Atlas of the City of Quincy, 1923.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Responding to the need of housing, developers in Quincy built numerous residentially scaled apartment buildings, three deckers and double residences at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. These five double residences are typical of this type of multiple housing. This attractive streetscape made of five double deckers cascading down Bedford Street has great visual and architectural interest with its rhythmical repetition of the vertical porch supports contrasted with the horizontal balustrades and peaked gables. All five residences are similar, with difference found only in the fenestration. Some have stained glass windows, some have windows with leaded panes while other windows are simple. There is also variety in the door treatments. Three of these houses have granite foundation and four of the five have retained their original shingled walls. They are fine examples of early 20th century double residences in Quincy

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