Josiah Quincy House

The Josiah Quincy House ( /ˈkwɪnzi/), located at 20 Muirhead Street in the Wollaston neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts, was the country home of Revolutionary War soldier Colonel Josiah Quincy I, the first in a line of six illustrious Josiah Quincys that included three Boston mayors and a president of Harvard University.

Having inherited the land from father Edmund, Josiah built his mansion on a 200-acre (0.81 km2) farm called the "Lower Farm," which had been in the family since 1635. The house was built in 1770 and was originally surrounded by fields and pasture overlooking Quincy Bay. It is constructed with an unusual hipped monitor roof, the oldest known example of this roof style to survive from the original colonies, and includes a Chinese fretwork balustrade and classical portico. Its attic contains four small rooms for servants, one with a fireplace.

During the American Revolution, Quincy aided General George Washington by observing the British fleet in Boston Harbor from his attic windows. He scratched on a pane of glass in the attic, “October 10, 1775 Governor Gage saild for England with a fair wind.” That glass pane has been preserved and now on view in the front hall.

The house is now owned by Historic New England, a non-profit historical organization, and is open only four Saturdays a year and by special appointment.