219:, but the generous Hancock nevertheless entertained him hospitably. Some forty French officers dined daily at his table, and on one occasion the unusually high number of guests forced the servants to milk the cows on Boston Common (although these belonged to other owners). Brissot was astonished that Hancock was friends with Nathaniel Balch, a humorous hatter. It appears that the dying governor called Balch to his bedside and dictated to him the minutes of his will, in which he gave the Manor to the Massachusetts government. However, he died before his will could be properly drawn up.
290:. For some months it served as a museum of historical relics and efforts were made by the city to secure objects found inside the building. The heirs offered the mansion, with the pictures and some other objects of historical interest, as a free gift, with the intent of preserving it as a memento of Colonial and Revolutionary history. A scheme for its removal and re-erection elsewhere failed; the Legislature did not want to invest $ 12,000 to have the house transferred to another location. On June 16, 1863, at one o'clock, the Hancock Manor was sold at
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134:-room and offices, with coach-house and barn behind. At the left of the entrance was a second saloon, or family drawing-room, the walls covered with crimson paper. The upper and lower halls were hung with pictures of game, hunting-scenes, and other subjects. Passing through this hall, another flight of steps led through the garden to a small summer-house close to Mt. Vernon Street. The grounds were laid out in ornamental flower-beds bordered with
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111:(garnished with pillars and an ornamental door head) was a wide stone slab at the head of a flight of stone steps. A wooden hall, designed for festive occasions, sixty feet in length, was joined to the northern wing; this was moved to Allen Street in 1818. The east wing contained a great ballroom; the west was used for the kitchen and other domestic offices; beyond this lay the coach house and adjoining stable.
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170:. That March, British officers had allegedly set an example to their men by hacking the fences with their swords, breaking windows, etc. A few days later Hancock was again disturbed by the redcoats, who refused to leave the premises at his request and mockingly told him his possessions would soon be theirs.
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relics. Though it had fallen into neglect, the house was excellently preserved: the interior woodwork was sound, the chamber of
Lafayette remained as when he slept in it, the apartment in which Hancock died was intact; the audience hall was the same in which Washington, d'Estaing, Brissot, Percy, and
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within the next few decades. An 18" x 21" bronze plaque, located on the iron wall below the State House's marble west wing, indicates the mansion's former location. It reads: "Here stood the residence of John
Hancock, a prominent and patriotic Merchant of Boston, the first Signer of the Declaration
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The interior comprised a nobly paneled hall, having a broad staircase with carved and twisted balusters, which divided the house in the middle and extended through on both stories from front to rear. On the landing, partway up the staircase, was the circular-headed window that looked out upon the
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of the same material. A paved walk and a dozen granite steps with sandstone trim led to the mansion, situated at a little distance back from the street on ground elevated above it. The approach was then through a neat garden bordered with small trees and shrubbery. Before the broad front door
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and was purchased for $ 230. The terms of the sale were cash down and the purchaser, Willard
Dalrymple, had ten days to have everything removed. The building was torn down despite public outcry and souvenirs of it were actively sought as it fell. The knocker on the front door was given to
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Front of the State House to the west, and the taking of the surrounding grounds, necessitated the elimination of
Hancock Avenue (a footway connecting Beacon and Mt. Vernon streets) and the removal of several of the houses, including 29 and 30 Beacon St.
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many more had stood; the entrance hall, in which
Hancock's body had lain in state for eight days, continued to open upon the broad staircase. It contained many of the furnishings and decorations of his time, with the family portraits by Copley and
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publishers became established at No. 29 in 1901. For fifteen years their business offices fully occupied the spacious interior of the former Brewer residence which stood on the site of the
Hancock Manor. In 1916 the marble extension of the
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deck roof featured a carved railing. Three dormer windows jutted out from the roof, which offered a beautiful, extensive view. The grounds were protected from the street by a low stone wall, on which was placed a light wooden fence with
130:. Out of this opened the dining-hall in which Hancock gave the famous breakfast to Admiral D'Estaing and his officers. Opposite this was a smaller apartment, the usual dining-hall of the family; next adjoining were the
74:. It was surrounded by a family estate that included various outbuildings, gardens, orchards, fruit-tree nurseries, and pastures, and extended from today's Joy Street on the west to Park Street on the east and from
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granite obtained from the surface, squared and well hammered. A balcony projected over the entrance door, upon which opened a large ornamental window. The balcony door was adorned with a cap that ended in
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garden and the city, with a broad and capacious window seat. On the entrance floor, at the right of the hall, was the great dining room, 17' × 25', also elaborately paneled from floor to ceiling.
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reported favorably upon the measure, but it met with strong opposition from the rural districts and was defeated. A suggestion was also offered to make it a museum for the collection of
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47:(1703–1764). It was the first house to be erected on the top of Beacon Hill west of the summit and stood alone with no westward neighbor until around 1768, when the portrait painter
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on the south to near Derne Street on the north. The family farm went up the side of the then existing peak of Beacon Hill where the State House annex now stands.
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1860. The woman standing on the left of the balcony is identified as
Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty, the great-grandniece of Governor John Hancock.
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The purchasers of the land, James
Madison Beebe (No. 30) and Gardner Brewer (No. 29), two leading Boston merchants, erected a stately double
185:. The house, however, remained relatively intact during the occupation, the furniture showing little signs of damage and the paintings none.
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in 1926 from the original plans, for use as a museum; it is still in use, presently as the home of the
Ticonderoga Historical Society.
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proposed that the
Commonwealth should purchase it for a governor's mansion, and the heirs offered it at a low valuation of
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Thomas willed the property to his wife Lydia Henchman (1714–1776). She died childless, leaving it to her favorite nephew
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in April 1775; they also broke down and mutilated the fences for firewood, until a complaint by the selectmen caused
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As you entered the governor's mansion, to the right was the drawing or reception room, with furniture of bird's-eye
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in Jamaica Plain. The mansion was demolished in 2007, but the steps were kept and refurbished the following year.
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The Hancock Manor's demolition spurred a historic preservation movement that would help save buildings like the
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Miss Eliza G. Gardner, who lived in the Manor for many years, described the interior and garden as follows:
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State action failing, the land which it occupied was sold for $ 125,000 on February 18, 1863, during the
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and belonged to Boston's richest family. A three-story granite mansion, it overlooked the pastureland of
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of American Independence, and First Governor of Massachusetts, under the State Constitution".
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The Manor was built between 1734 and 1737 by Joshua Blanchard for the wealthy merchant
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When d'Estaing visited, he was under a cloud for having deserted Colonial forces in
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in September 1775. Both house and stables were in part occupied by the wounded from
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The Manor was a good distance further back from Beacon Street until it was widened.
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The Manor's brown stone walls were massive (the front was 56' in length), made of
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4,000 and designated the pasture land as the site of the state's future capitol.
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24:. It stood near the southwest corner of what are today the grounds of the
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It was in this center of Colonial society that Hancock entertained
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66:. In its heyday it was considered the finest house in the entire
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Presided over, signed, United States Declaration of Independence
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299:, a friend of the Hancock family, who placed it on his home in
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Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
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1st and 3rd Governor of Massachusetts, 1780–1785, 1787–1793
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In 1795, two years after John Hancock's death, the town of
204:, and later Lords Stanley and Wortley, and Labouchière and
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to occupy it. He remained there for some time during the
208:. Hancock himself continued to live in the Manor while
97:. The corners and window openings were ornamented with
612:. John Hancock Financial Services, Inc., Boston, 2001.
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Also called the Hancock Mansion or the Hancock House.
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The Hancock Manor became the headquarters of General
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View of Hancock's house from across the Common, 1768
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Beacon Hill: The Life & Times of a Neighborhood
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154:soldiers pillaged the house about the time of the
826:Co-founder, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
707:Second Continental Congress, 1775–1777, 1785-1786
177:while he remained in Boston; he took command at
579:Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston
270:100,000. An influential joint committee of the
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596:. Northeastern University Press, Boston, 2002.
533:"John Hancock’s stairs transcend Jamaica Pond"
1042:Demolished buildings and structures in Boston
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572:. Courier Dover Publications, New York, 1990.
555:Boston: A Guide Book to the City and Vicinity
8:
831:United States presidential election, 1788–89
758:President, Massachusetts Provincial Congress
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415:
413:
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1067:Buildings and structures demolished in 1916
763:Chairman, Massachusetts Committee of Safety
254:Winter view of the Hancock Mansion, ca.1860
20:was a house located at 30 Beacon Street on
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570:Old Boston in Early Photographs, 1850-1918
370:A replica of the building, known as the
1072:Homes of United States Founding Fathers
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816:Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University
610:The Massachusetts State House: A Guide
51:built a house farther down the slope.
604:Massachusetts Institute of Technology
388:Hancock House (Ticonderoga, New York)
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714:Boston Board of Selectmen, 1766–1775
22:Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts
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781:Signed, Articles of Confederation
557:. Ginn and Company, Boston, 1922.
226:purchased most of the estate for
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587:. Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1894.
307:and relocated to the outside of
1011:John Hancock Sr. (grandfather)
563:. Little, Brown, Boston, 1921.
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1016:Edmund Quincy (father-in-law)
786:1788 Massachusetts Compromise
748:Co-inspired, Boston Tea Party
581:. J. R. Osgood, Boston, 1873.
147:Revolution and Early Republic
68:Province of Massachusetts Bay
30:United States Founding Father
326:house for their occupancy.
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469:At Drake 1873, pp. 339–40.
142:-trees, dotted the garden.
1001:John Hancock Jr. (father)
685:
561:Rambles Around Old Boston
297:Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
26:Massachusetts State House
1037:Houses completed in 1737
753:1774 Massacre Day speech
366:, Ticonderoga, New York.
490:Drake 1873, pp. 340-41.
448:Drake 1873, pp. 338–39.
344:Old South Meeting House
82:lived on the property.
1062:19th century in Boston
1057:18th century in Boston
1006:Thomas Hancock (uncle)
904:(2002 animated series)
836:Granary Burying Ground
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362:Replica, known as the
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202:Jacques Pierre Brissot
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996:Dorothy Quincy (wife)
634:42.35750°N 71.06417°W
575:Drake, Samuel Adams,
551:Bacon, Edwin Monroe,
537:Jamaica Plain Gazette
376:Ticonderoga, New York
374:, was constructed in
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234:Demolition and legacy
101:stone, and the tiled
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49:John Singleton Copley
28:. It was the home of
806:Hancock–Clarke House
600:Technology Quarterly
352:Hancock-Clarke House
1052:Beacon Hill, Boston
970:John Hancock Center
852:American Revolution
639:42.35750; -71.06417
630: /
592:Li-Marcus, Moying.
508:Drake 1873, p. 342.
499:Drake 1873, p. 341.
481:Drake 1873, p. 340.
242:The Hancock Manor,
156:Battle of Lexington
975:John Hancock Tower
585:Our Colonial Homes
539:, January 18, 2013
522:Bacon 1922, p. 38.
460:Bacon 1922, p. 39.
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126:covered with rich
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920:(2015 miniseries)
912:(2008 miniseries)
776:Dunlap broadside)
430:Drake 1894, p. 5.
198:George Washington
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1047:Houses in Boston
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318:Memorial plaque.
309:Pinebank Mansion
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18:Hancock Manor
1077:John Hancock
963:John Hancock
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945:John Hancock
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891:1969 musical
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738:confiscation
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679:John Hancock
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33:John Hancock
17:
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637: /
421:Bacon 1921.
272:Legislature
183:Bunker Hill
179:Charlestown
39:Description
1031:Categories
910:John Adams
801:Early life
622:42°21′27″N
546:References
324:brownstone
895:1972 film
703:President
625:71°3′51″W
301:Cambridge
288:Civil War
259:In 1859,
200:in 1789,
196:in 1781,
194:Lafayette
192:in 1778,
190:d'Estaing
108:gateposts
99:Braintree
857:patriots
771:(signing
602:v. VII.
382:See also
350:and the
336:Bulfinch
328:Messrs.
261:Governor
210:Governor
162:to send
140:mulberry
954:Hancock
936:Hancock
927:Hancock
845:Related
736:Liberty
281:Smybert
152:British
103:gambrel
95:volutes
92:baroque
989:Family
965:(1977)
956:(1944)
947:(1850)
938:, 1776
929:, 1775
878:Legacy
346:, the
224:Boston
128:damask
87:Quincy
80:Slaves
394:Notes
164:Percy
132:china
124:maple
961:USS
952:USS
943:USS
934:USS
925:USS
886:1776
794:Life
734:HMS
64:John
16:The
244:ca.
136:box
1033::
893:,
705:,
535:,
513:^
474:^
453:^
410:^
283:.
268:$
35:.
897:)
889:(
671:e
664:t
657:v
228:£
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