Nomination for Quincy Town Hall

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-300 REV. (9/77) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FOR NPS USE ONLY NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM RECEIVED NOV 05 1973 DATE ENTERED SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC Quincy Town Hall AND/OR COMMON Quincy City Hall 2 LOCATION STREET & NUMBER 3 4 5 1305 Hancock Street NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY.

TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Quincy - VICINITY OF 11th STATE CODE Massachusetts 025 COUNTY Norfolk CLASSIFICATION CODE 021 CATEGORY _DISTRICT X BUILDING(S) STRUCTURE SITE OBJECT OWNERSHIP XPUBLIC _PRIVATE -BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION _IN PROCESS BEING CONSIDERED STATUS X OCCUPIED -UNOCCUPIED -WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE XYES: RESTRICTED _YES: UNRESTRICTED -NO PRESENT USE AGRICULTURE MUSEUM _COMMERCIAL PARK -EDUCATIONAL PRIVATE RESIDENCE -ENTERTAINMENT -RELIGIOUS XGOVERNMENT SCIENTIFIC -INDUSTRIAL -TRANSPORTATION -MILITARY _OTHER: OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME City of Quincy STREET & NUMBER 1305 Hancock Street CITY. TOWN Quincy STATE VICINITY OF LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION Mass COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC Norfolk County Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER 630 HIgh Street CITY. TOWN STATE Dedham.Mass.

REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth DATE 1979 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Mass Historic Commission - FEDERAL STATE COUNTY _LOCAL CITY. TOWN STATE Boston DESCRIPTION CONDITION XEXCELLENT _GOOD FAIR DETERIORATED _RUINS CHECK ONE _UNALTERED X ALTERED CHECK ONE X ORIGINAL SITE -MOVED _UNEXPOSED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

DATE_ The Quincy City Hall faces east on Hancock Street in Quincy Square. The surrounding area is developed with commercial, high density residential and transportation uses. It is bounded on the west by a mass transit rail line,on the north by a landscaped pedestrian mall, and on the south by the City owned Hancock Cemetary which dates from c.1640. The First Parish Church (NR) stands directly across Hancock STreet. It is a two story Greek Revival structure of rectangular plan which is constructed of native blue-grey granite ashlar. Facing gable end to the street, its triangular pediment and severe entablature are supported by four fluted lonic pilasters flanked by two end piers, all on high pedastals. The center entrance approachedby two steps and consists of modern double doors headed by a blank transom,a sign bearing the words CITY HALL, and a tripartite window.

It is flanked on either side by two double casement windows which are separated from identical windows above by spandrels carved with anthemions. The upper portion of each bay contain a recessed panel; the central one is enscribed TOWN HALL - ERECTED A.D. 1844. This elevation was heavily altered in 1888 when the town house was converted to the City Hall. Originally a recessed entrance, approached by a long flight of stairs, occupied the entire center opening. Shop front doors, which originally occupied the outer bays, were replaced by the present casements windows as was the double hung sash above. The side elevators are each four bays in length and contain double-hung sash at the first floor/basementlevel and quadruple hungsash at the second floor/attic level.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD - PREHISTORIC - 1400-1499 -1500-1599 -1600-1699 -1700-1799 X_1800-1899 -1900- AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW _ARCHEOLUGY-PREHISTORIC COMMUNITY PLANNING _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION -LAW _AGRICULTURE _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE ZARCHITECTURE LEDUCATION -MILITARY ART LENGINEERING _MUSIC _COMMERCE _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY _COMMUNICATIONS _INDUSTRY XPOLITICS/GOVERNMENT _INVENTION 039 -RELIGION -SCIENCE -SCULPTURE -SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN -THEATER _TRANSPORTATION _OTHER (SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES 1844 BUILDER

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT Solomon Willard STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Quincy City Hall possesses integrity of design, location, materials, and workmanship. It is significant for the continuous role it has played in the development of Quincy government and as an outstanding example of monumental Greek Revival architecture con- structed of native granite. This building is associtated with both the town and city forms of government in Quincy and has been the seat of government activities since its construction in 1844. First settled in 1642, Quincy was incorporated as a part of Braintree in 1640. Braintree was divided into two precincts in 1708 but by 1792 the North Precinct had been incorporated as the town of Quincy.

It was not until May 24,1841 however, that the Town voted to build a townhouse of stone and not until April 18, 1844, that the Town authorized the Treasurer to purchase a lot next to the seventeenth century Hancock Cemetary. Solomon Willard supervised the consturction of the hall that same year. The following notice appeared in the "Quincy Patriot" of April 27, 1844: "To contractors.

Sealed proposals will be received by the Building Committee...for furnishing and deliv- ering on the spot, all materials for building a stone house, fifty by eignty feet, and thirty five feet, four inches in height, the front end and the two sides to be of dressed blue Granite of uniform color, the back end to be of rough Ashiar, and the whole to be laid in cement, together with about one hundred perches of stone for the cellar." Lommn, ee "Quie Topathous" nas efeeted f contract fornthet bulldingor butokn House which will be one of the most elegant edifices in New England. The Town House will be fifty feet by eighty feet and thirty-five feet, six inches to the eaves, of fine hammered stone, the tront to be l1ke the Merchants Exchange in State Street, Boston, having four beautiful fluted pilasters (26-3/4 ft.

in height) and handsonme capitols with architrave frieze and cornice -- the sides to be finely hammered,and laid in Ashlar courses sixteen inches rise. "The Hallwillhave four large windows on both sides, each containing fifty square feet of glass. There will be an office or store in each front corner and another room in the rear of them, which will take up about one-half of the room on the first floor. The remainder will make a commodious lecture or lyceum room nearly twice as large as the old Town Hall, the entrance to which will be on the south side of the building. "The Town Hall will be forty-six by seventy feet in the clear including gallery, which is to be over the Committee Room and the whole will be capable of seating twelve hundred persons."

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Edwards, William. Historic Quincy Massachusetts. Quincy: Franklin Printing Service, 1954. Holly, H. Hobart. Quincy 350 years. Quincy: Quincy Heritage, Inc., 1974. Quincy Patriot, April 27, 1844. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA VERIFIED ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY_ 10,680+ sq. ft. QUADRANGLE NAME Boston, South U_TM REFERENCES 3 |3 ,4 |6 ,6 0) 14 6 17 9 |3,6,0 EASTING NORTHING EL/ GL,1 VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION QUADRANGLE SCALE 1:24000 BL, ZONE HEASTING NORTHING NORTHING Lulu LuJLLilu HLiJ LLuJ Please refer to the attached map. The nominated property occupies plot #3 of plan #1149-1150 and is outlined in red. LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE Candace Jenkins, National Register Coordinator ORGANIZATION Robert J.

Luongo, Planning Assistant Massachusetts Historical Commission. October 1979 STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE 294 Washington Street 727-8470 CITY OR TOWN STATE Boston. Mass. 02108 Massachusetts 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: NATIONAL STATE- LOCAL - As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665).

I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE alena hheshnsta 10/24/79 TITLE Executive Director - Mass.Historical Commission FOR NPS USE ONLY I HEREBY CERTIFY AT THIS PROPERT NGUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER DATE DATE KEEP ER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER ATTEST: DATE EGISFRATTON 11-80 1/2/80 GPO 921-803 Form No. 10-300a (Kev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONALPARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY RECEIVED NOV 05 1979 DATE ENTERED JAN 1 I 1980 CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE Within forty years the town had grown rapidly, spurred by the extension of the 0ld Colony Railroad from Boston in the 1840's.

By then the town form of government was no longer considered adequate by many citizens. Thus, in 1884, a group met to discuss the question of City Charter. At the town meeting of 1887 the charter was recommended and approved, and was then passed by the state Legislature 1n 1o08. kather than dem- olishing their old Town Hall to construct a new City Hall in a more fashionable sytle as so many town did, Quincy retained the original Greek Revival structure. The City Hall is an excellent example of academic Greek Revival architecture which was described by Ralph Adams Cram as one of the outstanding specimens of mid-century class- 1cal American design in the country. It 1s unusual in both its monumentality and in the severity of its granite detail. These features may be attributed to its architect, Solomon Willard, who was instrumental in the development of the granite industry in Quincy.

While Quincy granite was used as early as 1750 in the constructuion of King's Chapel in Boston (NR) it did not evolve beyond a small quarrying operation with little finishing of the stone until the 1820's. The impetus came in 1826 when Willard was designing the Bunker Hill Monument (NR), an obelisk for which he proposed the use of hugh blocks of granite. In conjunction with Gridley J.F. Bryant, an architect and engineer, he devised a railway system to transport the granite blocks to the Neponset River where it could be floated to the Charlestown monument site. Willard also devised methods of quarrying and manipulating stone which ensured Quincy's later success in this area. Property Quncy Towr Hell state Ma Merfel Working Number /1=S-75_ 2654 TECHNICAL Photos_ Maps CONTROL HISTORIAN EXCOUAKEAANNE OF CUABSICM DSENIN GRNIRCHUTEGUURAL HISTORIAN ALLGPT MID ISC BECRIA.

pae Bouze 1/5/80 ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory - Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF ARLEPT MA 118/80 BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 2-3-8/ Send-back _ Re-submit Entered United States Department of the Interior National Park Service WASO No. 7 IN T:2106- 74 TOWEHHAL EGEOTEU E.E. 1064. CITY Qunncy,Massachusetts Quincy dfty Hal1 Mark Johnson 1977 Quincy Planning and Development Office Photo #1 Front elevation (east) porefoll Candy ,NOV 05 1979 JAN 1 1 1980 ENTRIESIN THE NATIONAL REGISTER MASSACHUSETTS STATE Date_ Entered JAN | | 1980 Name Location Quincy Town Hall O'Shea Building Quincy Norfolk County Peabody Essex County Also Notified Honorable Paul Isongas Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Honorable Brian J. Donnelly Honorable Nicholas Mavroules State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L.

Weslowski Executive Director Massachusetts Historical Conmission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 NR Byers/bjr 1/21/80 For further information, blease call the National Pegister at (202) 343-5401