Quincy House Tour

1449mn

1449

1449 Maine is one of the finest examples of high Queen Anne in the city of Quincy. Built in 1891 by well-known Quincy architect Harvey Chatten, this house represents a turning point for this architectural style. In form, the house faces the street and has a very prominent front entry topped with a classical pediment. Classical elements play an important roll in the detailing of this house but are not the overlying concept in the design of its massing.

The most prominent architectural feature of this house is its use of turrets and the unusually placed chimney. Both sides of the front elevation have round turrets with multiple windows in each. Turrets were a very popular detail of the Queen Anne and in later years became a measure of social status among the upper class. The more turrets and peculiar forms one’s house had, the more money they were able to spend on their house. The ideas of asymmetry and picturesque planning were very important in Queen Anne houses but were often lost in the 1890’s when classical forms again became popular. Chatten was apparently not concerned with this because he planned the house around a brick chimney that is rotated forty-five degrees and sits adjacent to the entry.

Another interesting element Chatten uses that goes away from the later Queen Anne homes is his deliberate use of rough cut stone along the first floor. Materials like this were used somewhat in larger cities at the same time but were not as popular as the clapboard or shingle. This stone adds to the overall texture of the house and gives the home a feeling that it could have been part of the English countryside. Classical detailing is indeed present, but removing it would not detract from the overall design of the house which is primarily picturesque.