Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

1205 Hancock Street

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
This small neat building, anchored in a sea of parked cars was erected in the 1940's. It is now included on the same lot as the Munroe Building at 1227-1249 Hancock Street. In earlier times this section of the lot, from approximately 1191 to 1225 Hancock Street, belonged to Lemuel Brackett, who was the first president of the National Granite Bank which was incorporated in 1836. Brackett left his house, built in 1827, to his daughter Nancy, who lived there until 1898. In 1907 the ownership of the property had passed into the Faxon family.

J. Franklin Faxon (1832-1912) is listed as the owner of 1227-1249 Hancock Street in 1907. He was the brother of Henry Hardwick Faxon (1823-1900), the fabulously successful real estate entrepreneur who owned many houses and stores in Quincy as well as large holdings in Boston and Chelsea. Upon J. Franklin's death in 1912, the property went to Henry Munroe Faxon, the only son of Henry Hardwick Faxon. Henry Munroe Faxon (1864-1949), a founder and president of the Quincy Electric Light & Power Company, apparently inherited his father's talent with real estate and successfully continued to manage the Faxon properties.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Atlas of Norfolk County. Mass. 1876.
Robinson's Atlas of Norfolk County. 1888.
Atlas of the City of Quincy. 1897.
Atlas of the City of Quincy. 1907.
Atlas of the City of Quincy. 1923.
Quincy Patriot Ledger. Souvenir Edition. 1899, p. 25.
"Sprague Genealogy of Old Braintree Families". Microfilm at the Quincy Historical Society.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This minute one story office building, covered in textured metal panels and siding, located in a parking lot gives credence to the theory that it was once a trailer; today, it is anchored to its asphalted setting in concrete blocks. It has established its permanence by planting bushes, treating itself seriously, in the midst of large and imposing commercial structures. It is part of the Quincy Center Local Historic District.

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