However, “the idea of preserving a home simply because someone lived there once … simply just doesn’t add up for me,” he said.Ĭhair Heather Hamilton agreed, but said she worried if the town did nothing, the houses would be torn down. She was ultimately the swing vote, siding with board members Bernard Greene and John VanScoyoc in recommending favorable action. “Were this to be a warrant article that would seek to acquire and preserve the Olmsted home, for instance, or the Richardson home for the ability of residents and visitors to tour the place, to learn about these architectural figures - no brainer, for me,” said Fernandez, who pointed to Brookline’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site as an example. Select Board members split on whether to recommend favorable action when Town Meeting considers Article 20 this month. “You could say, perhaps, we were too sleepy along the way, but this was not the first attempt.” What qualifies for preservation? “It isn’t just that we all woke up when threatened with demolition,” he said.
Preservation Planner Tina McCarthy replied the department doesn’t have enough resources to follow Fernandez’s suggestion, instead relying on community activism to point it toward the most important sites.Įlperin added this is not the town’s first attempt at preserving 25 Cottage St., a property placed on the National Trust's list of most endangered historic places more than a decade ago. The commission reviews all applicable proposals before property owners can recieve a building permit.Ĭommission Chair Elton Elperin told the board the 25 Cottage and 222 Warren developer is working with the commission and has “indicated if we arrive at an arrangement which is satisfactory to them and with us, then they will be in support of the LHD.”įernandez noted preservation conversations typically arise after a threat of redevelopment, suggesting the town be more proactive in taking inventory of its historic sites and working to preserve them. The town’s LHD bylaw prevents “inappropriate” changes to or demolitions of buildings and structures that are visible from a public way within the district, according to the report. Why a historic district?Īccording to the commission’s report, establishing a local historic district is “the most effective method of preserving the architectural character and integrity of individual buildings, groups of buildings, and neighborhood.”īrookline already has eight local historic districts. “The five sites in the proposed LHD speak to the unique synergy generated by Richardson and Olmsted,” notes a November 2021 report from the Preservation Commission. Richardson’s grave site in the Walnut Hills Cemetery.16 Warren St., John Charles Olmsted’s first home.99 Warren St., called Fairsted, where Frederick Law Olmsted made his home and office.
In Warrant Article 20, which comes before Town Meeting later this month, the Preservation Commission proposes an Olmsted-Richardson Thematic Local Historic District, which would tie together five non-contiguous sites linked to the two men: 29 meeting.Īs the 18-month demolition delay winds down, the town searches for a more permanent solution. The 2008 recession nixed one developer’s plans to restore the home to its former glory, and the house was “allowed to rot” for almost a decade, one abutter said at the Dec. The Richardson house in particular was left empty and unmaintained for years. More: Historic Brookline homes saved from demolition… for now Ahead of the meeting, more than 300 letters and emails poured in from all over the world, with notable organizations such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation weighing in. In December 2020, the Preservation Commission gave the two properties a temporary reprieve from the wrecking ball after developer Jeffrey Birnbaum applied to demolish them.
What’s the status on their former houses? Both he and Richardson made Brookline a hub for architecture and landscaping, sharing in a belief that beautiful vistas belonged not only on private estates, but in the public eye. Olmsted, a nephew and adopted son of famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, followed his father into the family business and settled at 222 Warren St. Architect of the iconic Trinity Church in Copley Square, Richardson spent his later years at 25 Cottage St., where he kept his studio.