30 North Beacon Street
Boston, Allston, MA, USA

Hancock Manor

Completed in 1737, for Thomas Hancock (1703-1764) and his wife Lydia Henchman (1714-1776), it was perhaps best associated with their nephew, John Hancock, the President of Congress who was first to sign his name on the U.S. Declaration of Independence. However, Alfred F. Young wrote that by 1833 all the importance we associate with its history today had by then become more of an uncomfortable reminder to the city's Brahmin of, "a rich man who pledged his fortune to the cause of revolution; one president of the Massachusetts Historical Society could not refrain from a stream of profanities when he walked past the elegant stone mansion". Both the City and the Commonwealth declined offers to ensure its preservation and it was demolished in 1865....

Thomas Hancock was the business partner of Boston's wealthiest merchant, Charles Apthorp, and by the time he died in 1764 he had accumulated a fortune of £70,000. His 56-foot wide brown granite house took three years to complete and was the first to sit on Beacon Hill, enjoying views from the balcony over Boston Harbor and the Blue Hills at Milton. It sat on an estate of gardens, orchards and pastureland that in today's terms extended from Beacon Street up to Derne Street, and from Joy Street across to Park Street.

Hancock bequeathed the estate with all his, "chariots, chaises, carriages and horses" plus "all his negroes" and a substantial sum of money to his widow, Lydia, and she continued to make her home here up until 1776, only weeks before her favorite nephew put his quill to the U.S. Declaration of Independence. John Hancock (that same nephew) had grown up in their household since the age of seven after his father's premature death at Braintree.

The Governor's Seat

After his education, John was taken into his childless uncle's firm and by the time his uncle died, he found himself principal heir to one of the city's largest fortunes and one of its most lucrative businesses. From the 1760s, as Revolution became ever more inevitable, Hancock set himself apart from similarly wealthy men by gearing his fortune almost entirely towards the Patriot cause. By 1775, the Redcoats had forced him into hiding and his home was requisitioned, serving as the headquarters to the British General Henry Clinton who ensured that no damage came to Hancock's furniture nor paintings.

After the British were expelled from Boston in 1776, Hancock returned home and found his estate almost entirely undamaged. For the remainder of the war, he entertained many of the leading names in American history at that time including the Marquis de Lafayette, Admiral d'Estaing and George Washington himself. As Governor of Massachusetts, Hancock and his wife, Dorothy Quincy, regularly sat up to forty officers around their table, and despite the cost even for people of their wealth, their hospitality was faultless.

Good Intentions

According to legend, Hancock had wished to bequeath his house to the Commonwealth but he died before his wishes could be committed to paper. His widow, Dorothy, remained in the home alone (both their children died in childhood) until 1796 when she remarried Captain James Scott, one of her former husband's most trusted sea captains and advisors.

The John Hancock Juniors

Captain Scott died in 1809 and Dorothy continued to live here until 1816. Three years later, she took the decision to sell the estate for subdivision and the house was purchased by her nephew, John Hancock, who made his home here with his wife, Elizabeth Scott, and their brood of ten children all of whom lived to adulthood. Mrs Hancock died in 1830 but John remained here for the remainder of his life just short of three decades later. Before then, the household had been home to several of his grandchildren, notably Elizabeth Moriarty, who is seen on the balcony in one of the last photographs taken of the house.

Futile Pleas for Preservation

The younger John Hancock died in 1859, having stated in his will that the house was not to be sold until four years after his death in the hope that during that time an arrangement could be made to preserve it. His heirs offered the house to the city and the commonwealth for $100,000 - several thousand dollars less than its value - but there was little interest from either. When it was eventually put up for auction in 1863, it was jointly purchased by James M. Beebe and Gardner Brewer who in a last ditch attempt by the family still could not be persuaded to preserve it. They demolished the house in 1865 and replaced it with an elegant double townhouse numbered 29 and 30 Beacon Street. That too fell victim to growth in 1917 when it was covered by the new west wing of the Statehouse.

A Retrospective Resurrection

While all that is left to remind us of its original location today is a modest plaque, in 1926 an exact replica of the house was built by Brahmin architect John Hubbard Sturgis and resurrected at Ticonderoga as the new headquarters of the New York State Historical Association: "the exterior is a faithful copy, from the original plans... Inside, the two parlors to the right of the entrance and the main hall are copies of the corresponding rooms in the old house. The imposing stairway in the hall is an exact copy of the one in the old house". Today, Hancock House is home to the Ticonderoga Historical Association.