The Legacy of Hancock House 

During the nineteenth century, Bostonians revered the John Hancock House partly because of its architecture but also for its historical associations. In 1863, after efforts to sell the house to the Commonwealth for use as a governor’s residence failed, the Hancock family sold the land on which the house stood to a pair of businessmen. They proposed to demolish Hancock House and construct two new townhouses on the site, leading to one of the earliest preservation battles in America. 

When efforts to save Hancock House failed, the family held auctions to sell materials from the mansion, including its architectural elements and interior furnishings. From the exterior woodwork, people made highly collectible souvenirs like these two goblets. 

William Sumner Appleton (1874-1947) did not witness the destruction of Hancock House, but its memory spurred the creation of Historic New England in 1910. In the first issue of its Bulletin, Appleton described the destruction of Hancock House “as a classic in the annals of vandalism.” Historic New England owns one of the largest artifact and archival collections related to Hancock House.