Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

43 Quincy Avenue

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The South Quincy neighborhood is bounded by the MBTA tracks (west), School Street (north), the Quincy Avenue (east) and the Braintree Town Line (south). The old Boston-Plymouth Highway followed two important streets in the area, School and Franklin, and it is on Franklin Street that is found the birthplaces of the two presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, around which the Adams Birthplace Local Historic District is formed. This was a residential area and many of the homes belonged to those connected with the nearby granite industry. The earliest houses were along the old Boston-Plymouth Highway with woods and farmlands stretching behind. Now the major farms in the area, principally those of Charles Francis Adams and Job Faxon, have been subdivided and there is much commercial activity along Quincy Street, Franklin Street, School Street and the beginning of Independence Avenue. A notable feature of South Quincy is the 54-acre Faxon Park, given to the City of Quincy, beginning in 1885, by the Faxon family.

Number 43 Quincy Avenue was probably built by one of the William Parkers, a family of carpenters. A William Parker Jr., was the builder/architect of the first Coddington School (1855) and of the Greenleaf Building, 1419 Hancock Street (1876). A William Parker II and William Parker III., both carpenters, lived at 43 Quincy Avenue but it is unclear whether either one was the architect mentioned above. From about 1907 until after 1923 the property was owned by Edmund J. Parmenter, a hostler.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Building Permit, 1908 alteration
H. Hobart Holly. Quincy: 350 years, 1974, p. 58.
H. Hobart Holly. "Quincy's Granite Hills Were Golden". Quincy Histroy. Spring, 1980.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Map research has placed this house in the 1860s, yet visual evidence indicates that it might be earlier. Vinyl siding has removed the window enframements and probably the corner boards. The cimpact massing, the gambrel roof, the centrally placed large chimney, the symmetrical five bay facade all indicate a date in the 1820s or 1830s. The three dormers with their segmental arched windows on the front slope of the roof could have been added in the Italianante period, probably in the 1860s, maybe at the time as the two over two windows. However, there is also the possibility that the dormers, the two over two windows were all part of the original house, built in a retardataire traditional longitudinally oriented manner in the 1860s. The entrance porch was added during the Colonial Revival period, in the early 20th century. This property would benefit from a title and deed search. It was listed in the previous inventory. It is an interesting 19th century structure on Quincy Avenue

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