Thursday is "This Old House Day"

Stein & Applebaum, a well-known local building company, erected this large Tudor revival residence at 390 Adams Street in 1931. Working with architect J. Winthrop Pratt, Stein & Applebaum had previously built Beth Israel, 33 Grafton Street (1918) and 1627-1635 Hancock Street (1922). They probably built the $15,000 house on speculation as William J. Martin, the executive vice-president of the Granite Trust Co., was living there in 1935.

The land on which 390 Adams Street is located had belonged since at least 1897 to the Adams Temple and School Fund. This Fund was established by John Adams in 1822 for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Town of Quincy and included two large tracts of Adams land known as Rock Pasture (25 acres) and Mount Ararat Pasture (54 acres) . The Fund illustrates the three century-old bond of the Adams family and Quincy.  Presidents John and John Quincy Adams lived close by at 135 Adams Street.