The Cottage Farm Historic District is a residential area in eastern
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...
, known for its association with industrialist
Amos Adams Lawrence
Amos Adams Lawrence (July 31, 1814August 22, 1886) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and social activist. He was a key figure in the United States abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War and the growth of the E ...
(1814–1886). Laid out in the 1850s and centered around the junction of Essex and Ivy Streets, it features high-quality housing on large lots, built between the 1850s and 1910s. The district was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1978.
Description and history
The area that is now Cottage Farm was in the 17th century part of a large meadowland owned by jurist
Samuel Sewall
Samuel Sewall (; March 28, 1652 – January 1, 1730) was a judge, businessman, and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials, for which he later apologized, and his essay ''The Selling ...
, bounded on the north by the
Charles River
The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...
and the south by the
Muddy River, west of the latter's mouth. In the early 19th century, this property was acquired by
David Sears, who built a house in the Cottage Farm area in 1844 for his son Frederick. Amos Lawrence acquired the Cottage Farm tract from Sears in 1850, built a house for his family in 1851, and began subdividing and building out the property. Three of the early houses, including that of Lawrence, are notable English Gothic Revival stone buildings, including one designed by architect
George Minot Dexter as his own home. Later houses were built in popular architectural styles.
The historic district is bounded on the north by Dummer and Mountfort Streets, on the west by Amory Street, on the south by
Beacon Street
Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston Uni ...
, and on the east by St. Mary's Street. The district excludes properties on the latter two roads. The southwest portion of this area is mainly openspace, with a playground and conservation area surrounding Hall's Pond. There are 75 historically significant buildings on . Most of them are residential, with a shared setting and scale. Some are institutional buildings, including those of the
New England Hebrew Academy, but even these are not out of scale with the residences.
[
Much of the district was saved from demolition by governor ]Francis Sargent
Francis Williams Sargent (July 29, 1915 – October 22, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Massachusetts from 1969 to 1975. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 63rd Lieutenant Govern ...
's 1970 moratorium on all highway construction inside Route 128
The following highways are numbered 128:
Canada
* New Brunswick Route 128
* Ontario Highway 128 (former)
* Prince Edward Island Route 128
Costa Rica
* National Route 128
India
* National Highway 128 (India)
Japan
* Japan National Route 128 ...
, as it sat directly in the path of one of the highways cancelled by the moratorium, the Inner Belt Expressway
The Inner Belt in Boston was a planned six-lane, limited-access highway that would have run through parts of Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville.
Original plan
The highway would have been called Interstate 695 and would have provided ...
.
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Brookline, Massachusetts
Historic districts in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Queen Anne architecture in Massachusetts
Gothic Revival architecture in Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts