John E. Drake established a shoe factory a short way east of these houses in the 1870s (near the corner of Parmenter Place), and was employing 250 workers by the 1880s.

He built the four duplexes in this district in the 1880s to provide residential space for some of his workers.

[2] The four duplexes are all wood-frame structures, of a type called a "Quincy Cottage" which were once quite numerous in the city.

The basic form is a 1+1⁄2-story rectangular block, with a projecting entrance and a pair of gabled dormers in the roof.

The presence and configuration of porches varies, as do added stylistic details such as bracketing in the eaves and the shape and size of dormers.