CultureNOW - Ebenezer Hancock House: Peter Vanderwarker

Ebenezer Hancock House
Historic Buildings: Residential

Dates

Constructed, 1712

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Description

ABOUT THE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS
"In the ever-changing city, a few things remain the same. We’re looking at one of the oldest surviving houses in Boston, the so-called Ebenezer Hancock House. It stands at 10 Marshall Street in the tiny neighborhood of narrow, twisting lanes known as the Blackstone Block, next to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. The house was built in 1767 by the uncle of the John Hancock who signed the Declaration of Independence. It was inherited by John, who gave it to his brother Ebenezer, who became deputy paymaster of the Continental Army in the Revolution.

Some of the house’s claims to fame sound like the Guinness Book of Records. The ground floor, for example, was home to the longest-running shoe store in American history, which lasted from 1798 to 1963. Its sign is visible in the old photo: 'Wm. H. Learnard, Boots, Shoes and Rubbers.' Today the house is occupied by a firm of lawyers.

The Blackstone Block (named, but misspelled, after an early settler named Blaxton) is the only well-preserved piece we have of the Colonial city of the 1700s. As its street names suggest — Creek Square, Salt Lane, Marsh Lane — it was often under water (maybe the rubbers helped?), reminding us that most of Boston is built on filled land. At the left of the house is a building that appears to have shrunk from five stories to three. Like Alice in Wonderland, Boston buildings once changed height unpredictably. Upper floors were removed in order to lower taxes during financial depressions, then sometimes restored in happier times.

It’s too small to see in the photos, but in front of the shrunken building stands the so-called Boston Stone. This was originally the possession of Thomas Child, who moved here around 1700. Child, a painter of shop signs, used the stone to grind his pigments. In 1737, a later inhabitant opened a tavern here and found the stone half buried in the backyard. He set it up on the street and inscribed the words "Boston Stone," in imitation of the London Stone, from which distances to and from London were once calculated. The Boston Stone was preserved when the new building went up in 1835 and has long been regarded as a city landmark."

-Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, "CITYSCAPES - Ebenezer Hancock House," Boston Globe, 2002

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Location

10 Marshall Street
Boston, MA 02184
United States

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