{"nrhp_refnum":"89001349","name":"Munroe Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1227--1259 Hancock St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quincy","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.25220293500007,"lon":-71.00449054599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick and limestone commercial and office block at 1227-1259 Hancock Street in Quincy Center, Massachusetts, built in 1929 and designed by Shephard and Stearns.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it Quincy's most elaborate and intact example of a Colonial Revival commercial building. It reflects the 1920s redevelopment of Quincy Center along a widened Hancock Street. It is also the work of noted Boston architects, and it retains its overall integrity despite minor 1980s alterations.","narrative":"Completed in 1929 at a cost of $250,000, this two-story brick and limestone block at 1227-1259 Hancock Street holds shops on the ground floor and professional offices above. Henry M. Faxon built it on land his family had owned for over a century. It was one of several large masonry buildings that replaced frame stores, houses and taverns after Hancock Street was widened in the mid-1910s. Boston architects Shephard and Stearns designed it in the Colonial Revival style. The Hancock Street front has three gables, each with an arched window flanked by single windows, a variation on a Palladian design. Swags, a frieze of triglyphs and rosettes, and a corner marked by pilasters and a lettered panel add detail. Some upper windows were changed and two storefront frames were replaced with aluminum in the 1980s, yet the building remains intact. It is regarded as the finest Colonial Revival commercial building in Quincy Center from the 1920s.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Shephard and Stearns (architects); built by Henry M. Faxon","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition listed as good; still used for offices and stores, with ground-floor retail and second-floor professional offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.431447-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/7925/63792548/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001349.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001349/b304c59507-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001349/b304c59507-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Munroe_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Munroe_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792548","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munroe_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6936837"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/munroe-building-89001349/"}