Description
The Manor was built between 1734 and 1737 by Joshua Blanchard for the wealthy merchant Thomas Hancock (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 John Singleton Copley built a house further down the slope.
Thomas willed the property to his wife Lydia Henchman (1714-1776). She died childless, leaving it to her favorite nephew John. In its heyday it was considered the finest house in the entire Province of Massachusetts Bay and belonged to Boston's richest family. A three-story granite mansion, it overlooked the pastureland of Boston Common. 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 Beacon Street 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. Slaves lived on the property.
The Manor's brown stone walls were massive (the front was 56' in length), made of Quincy 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 baroque volutes. The corners and window openings were ornamented with Braintree stone, and the tiled gambrel 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 gateposts 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 (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 that was the stable.
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 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' x 25', also elaborately paneled from floor to ceiling.
Miss Eliza G. Gardner, who lived in the Manor for many years, described the interior and garden as follows:
| “ | As you entered the governor's mansion, to the right was the drawing or reception room, with furniture of bird's-eye maple covered with rich damask. 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 china-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 box; box-trees of large size, with a great variety of fruit, among which were several immense mulberry-trees, dotted the garden. |
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