Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

59-63 Faxon Road

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Atlantic neighborhood in North Quincy is bordered by the Neponset River to the North and Quincy Bay to the East. It was once part of Dorchester and with the Old North Precinct that had split off from Braintree, became part of the Town of Quincy in 1792. The Jockey Club of Boston set up the first mile track course in the state in 1812 in a section of Atlantic known as Billings Plains and less than one hundred years later the track was filled in with new homes. Like its neighbors, Montclair and Wollaston, most of the community of Atlantic was built in the first third of the 20th century. From earliest colonial times until the Civil War, North Quincy was referred to as "The Farms" and it was the large Newbury, Wilson, Billings' and Glover farms that were split up for residences by real estate developers David H. MacKay, Henry Hunt, Maurice E. Kilpatrick, John E. Poland, Henry J. Grass and Charles M. Conant. Henry Blackwell and Walter Webb. The development process was greatly accelerated by the Old Colony Railroad which began operations in 1845, eventually establishing stations in Atlantic, Norfolk Downs (the southern section of Atlantic), and Wollaston as well as by the advent of Quincy's extensive street railway system.

During 1888 to 1898 Henry Hunt, acting as agent for developer Charles F. Stratton, opened up a number of estates, built ten streets and put over three hundred house lots on the market. Stratton, in 1907, owned the entire block on which the residence at 59-63 Faxon Road is located. In between 1907 and 1923 Fred R. Foss, an edge gilder, purchased the land from Stratton and built the house. A carpenter, Martin Purin, had acquired the property by 1930 and he converted 59-63 Faxon Road from a two to a four family residence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
building Permits.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
H. Hobart Holly. ed. Quincy: 350 Years. 1974. p. 4.
William S. Pattee. A History of Old Braintree and Quincy. 1878, p. 55.
John Ramsdell. "Historic North Quincy". ["Written about 1934"]. Typed manuscript at Quincy Historical Society.
Daniel Munro Wilson. Three Hundred Years of Quincy 1625-1925. 1925, p. 280-281.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
The Queen Anne Style was the dominant domestic style from about 1880 until 1900. The style begun in England with the work of Richard Norman Shaw. It harkened back to pre-18th century Queen Anne classically oriented architecture and back to picturesque late medieval structures of England. At the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Americans were first exposed to English Queen Anne architecure. Within the decade, the style had replaced the previous foreign derived styles, such as Gothic Revival, Italianate and French Second Empire (Mansardic). The salient characteristic of the style was the emphasis on irregularity of plan, of massing, of color, of window types and of wall textures. There were many wall overhangs, types of roofs and elaborate chimneys; ornamentation was ubiquitous. With time, picturesque elements were replaced with classic detailing and soon after, late 1890s, this led to the Shingle Style and the Colonial Revival Style.

This multiple residence of four apartments is a late Queen Anne residence as can be seen by the round corner turret which is no longer a strong vertical element, but rather is encompaseed within the large ridge roof of the house, a precursor element of the forth coming Shingle Style. The interpenetrating surfaces of the walls caused by the overhanging side gable, the front gable with recessed arched center and the projecting porticos all create a picturesque silhouette. The building is set on a typical Quincy granite foundation, has regular fenestration and is totally sheathed with shingles. It is a fine example of a Quincy late Queen Anne house and an attractive component in the Faxon Road streetscape.

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