Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

Edwards Street (Quincy Point junior High School)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The dedication of the 22-classroom Quincy Point Junior High School on October 8, 1928 was attended by over 300 citizens of Quincy Point from "all walks of life" (Quincy Patriot Ledger, October 9, 1928). The school takes its name from the section of the city in which it is located. Quincy Point, earlier known as the Old Fields District, was basically a maritime community focused on the Town and Fore Rivers. Although shipbuilding had been an industry in Quincy Point since colonial times, significant events in this area were the location of William James and David Torrey on the Town River in 1811, the development of the famous Souther yard a few years later, and the move of the Fore River Engine Company (later Bethlehem Steel, then General Dynamics) to Quincy Neck in 1900.

The architect for the Quincy Point Junior High School, which, in an unusual arrangement, is joined to the Daniel Webster (elementary) School (Cleveland & Godfrey, 1916) in the rear, was William Chapman and the contractors were the Frankini Brothers. Already well known in Quincy, Chapman had previously designed the Court House, 12-24 Coddington Street (1911); the Montclair School, 8 Belmont Street (1912), and would two years later design the Merrymount School, 4 Agawam Street (1929).

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
William Churchill Edwards, Historic Quincy, Massachusetts, 1957, p. 151.
H. Hobart Holly, ed. Quincy: 350 Years, p. 21-22,51.
Original plans, Maintenance Department, Quincy Public Schools.
Quincy Patriot Ledger. October 9, 1928.
William S. Pattee. History of Old Braintree and Quincy. Quincy: Green and Prescott, 1878, p. 55.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
By 1927, standards for school design, architecture and engineering were well standarized (see North Quincy High School, 1926, F. I. Cooper, Architect) and school buildings of the second quarter of the 20th century reflected these changes in siting, planning, and space organization. This two story brick school set on a high granite basement is massed in a long rectangular configuration, whose facade is relieved by the slightly projecting end pavillions and is topped by a plain brick parapet, with four set in plain rectangular panels. The fenestration is simple: traditional sash windows, set a regular intervals, framed with off white painted trim The focus of architectural ornamention is in the two granite entrances, each with a recessed door, and each capped with a plain entablature. On the top of these entrances are tall, two storied, arched recessed windows which are decorated with off white trim around the arch. The painted lintels of the windows create a visual separation of the two floors, thus acting as string courses. The small paned windows, the off white trim, the simple, classic details are reflect the traditional styling of the school, which is in sharp contrast to the school William Chapman designed two years later at 4 Agawan Road, which is severe and unadorned.

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