{"nrhp_refnum":"89001357","name":"New England Telephone Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"10 Merrymount Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quincy","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.25648510600007,"lon":-71.00680839499995,"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 brick Classical Revival telephone exchange building at 10 Merrymount Road, one block from Quincy Center in Quincy, Massachusetts, built about 1906 by an unknown architect.","why_significant":"It was the first building in Quincy erected specifically to house the telephone exchange, tying it to the growth of the city's public utilities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also a well-preserved example of simple Classical Revival design adopted for a semi-public commercial building. It kept its architectural integrity despite a 1924 addition that doubled its size.","narrative":"Built about 1906 at 10 Merrymount Road, one block from Quincy Center, this brick building was the first in Quincy constructed specifically to house the telephone exchange. Telephone service in the city began in the early 1880s under the Suburban Telephone Company, and the exchange later occupied rented rooms before moving here under New England Telephone. From this building service reached customers in Quincy, Holbrook, Randolph, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset and Hull. The company left in 1940 for new headquarters on Hancock Street, and in 1943 the building became a Jewish Community Center. It is now used as offices. Architecturally, it is a simple Classical Revival design with a symmetrical ten-bay facade, an arched central entrance, brick keystones, cast stone sills, brick pilasters, a string course and a cornice. A 1924 addition doubled its size while copying the original design, and the building has kept its integrity in a city where many commercial structures were altered.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition is described as good. It was later used as a Jewish Community Center (from 1943) and is now used as offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.749755-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/20/7925/63792520/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001357.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001357/546d5629d0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001357/546d5629d0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_England_Telephone_Building_Quincy_MA_01.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:New_England_Telephone_Building_Quincy_MA_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792520","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Telephone_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7007410"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/new-england-telephone-building-89001357/"}