On Saturday, October 14, 2017, from 10 AM to 4 PM, Quincy Preserves will present its annual “Behind Closed Doors” historic homes tour. This year’s tour will feature six homes, including a bungalow with neoclassical details, a modified Cape Cod, a vernacular two-thirds double pile house, the Colonel Edward Prince House, an American Foursquare Style house, and the Walter and Rose Heidbreder House.
Tickets for the fall tour may be purchased in advance for $12 at the following locations: in Quincy: Arts Quincy (300 Civic Center Plaza), Kirlin’s Hallmark (Quincy Mall), Emerald City Jewelers (3236 Broadway), Quincy History Museum (332 Maine), and Adam Florist (522 S 8th) and in Hannibal: Dempsey and Dempsey (716 Broadway) and Java Jive (211 N Main). Tickets are available at each home the day of the tour for $15 each (credit cards accepted at 2332 York only).
319 Spruce Street: This bungalow with neoclassical details was built for R.M. Walter and Lillian Heidbreder in 1908. Its construction used “Quincy Dimension (or Quincy bed) Stone, known around the country and valued for its special roughness and its ability to be cut into irregular shapes. Few stone cutters today can hand drill the rock from its base and cut it freestyle. Thus, this house is irreplaceable.
432 North 20th Street: This two story variation of a Cape Code house is much later than the other on the Tour. The interior, however, is filled with primitive antiques and includes a reconstructed
log cabin as the breakfast room.
2531 Prentiss Avenue: Benjamin and Electa moved to the Quincy area in 1835, leaving behind their Connecticut jobs in the clock making business. Benjamin was a machinist who developed advanced clockwork mechanisms. Electa added ornamental painting to clock dials. At one time, Benjamin worked for Seth Thomas Clock Company.
1680 Maine Street: The Colonel Prince house is a rarity in construction, designed in one style, rebuilt in another, reconfigured at one time and restored in another. Harvey Chatten, the architect, designed the original Queen Anne style house and is thought also to be the designer of the Tudor Revival seen today.
2160 Maine Street: The Thomas and Anna Johnson House was built circa 1913 in the American Foursquare Style, popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. This style incorporates elements of the Prairie Style.
2332 York Street: The Walter and Rose Heidbreder House was designed by George Behrensmeyer, a noted Quincy architect, who was greatly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s habit of designing a house close to the ground to make it appear as part of its surroundings. This design typified much of Behrensmeyer’s work in many ways.
Online ticket sales are now closed. You may purchase tickets at any of the tour locations for $15.
For more information, contact Quincy Preserves at [email protected].