![]() The second floor housed the meeting hall for town meetings, and the finished attic housed town offices. Market stalls filled the lower level, which opened directly into the surrounding public square. This 1789 engraving is the only known depiction of the hall in its Revolutionary-era configuration. It became home to the town government and served as a public hall for concerts, banquets, and ceremonies. The town voted to name the hall in Faneuil's honor. Though the original intention was a market, the meeting hall above became the valuable legacy. It passed by a slim margin: 367 to 360.Īlmost as an afterthought, Peter Faneuil decided to add a meeting hall over the market floor in the building proposal. When it finally came to a vote, Faneuil's proposal ultimately carried. Many opponents raised concerns that by centralizing the market, sellers would raise prices and hurt competition. Yet despite such a generous offer, the proposal proved to be a very contentious issue. Faneuil himself promised to personally fund the construction of the building. In 1740, Faneuil approached the town's government-the town meeting-with a proposal to establish a permanent central marketplace in the heart of Boston. Faneuil himself owned enslaved people of African descent in his household, traded extensively in goods produced by enslaved labor, supplied materials that supported plantation economies, and his capital directly funded several voyages to purchase enslaved Africans off the coast of Sierra Leone.īeyond this complicated economic and social legacy, Peter Faneuil sought to leave a personal legacy through a public gift. However, a significant portion of this prosperity came directly as well as indirectly from human enslavement. Faneuil traded in many commodities which only increased his wealth and prosperity. Virtually overnight Peter Faneuil became one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, merchants in Boston. When Andrew Faneuil died in 1738, Peter inherited the majority of Andrew's estate and business. ![]() Andrew amassed a fortune as a merchant in town, and evidently Peter became the favored nephew. When his parents died, Faneuil came to live with his uncle Andrew Faneuil in Boston. Peter Faneuil was the son of French Huguenot parents who emigrated to the colony of New York at the beginning of the 1700s. ![]() Quincy Market was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.Faneuil Hall today, in the heart of Downtown Boston. A popular site along the Freedom Trail, Quincy Market is one of Boston’s most recognizable tourist attractions and continues to operate as a market. This pioneering example of adaptive reuse in a commercial setting set a standard for preserving historic commercial districts as a means of boosting the local economy. The architecture firm Benjamin Thompson & Associates and landscape architecture firm Pressley Associates oversaw the rehabilitation that began in 1975 and lasted until the mid-1980s and which was undertaken by The Rouse Company. In 1966 the Boston Redevelopment Authority authorized a preservation and modernization study on the building, which resulted in a report that won a two million dollar grant to advance its restoration. To the north and south of the building are the North and South markets, which are separated from Quincy Market by stone and brick-paved areas featuring granite seating, wooden benches, lighting fixtures, outdoor vendors, and planting beds each containing a tree.ĭue to lack of upkeep, Quincy Market had fallen into disrepair by the 1960s. The market is fronted by a paved plaza featuring granite benches and lighting fixtures. ![]() Architect Alexander Parris designed the Greek Revival building, which features columns and pediments at each end and a central copper dome. It was Boston’s first major project after officially becoming a city in 1822 and was named for Mayor Josiah Quincy. Situated in Downtown Boston, this market was built from 1824 to 1826 to accommodate the overflowing number of vendors and patrons to neighboring Faneuil Hall.
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