The Robert Treat Paine Estate, known as Stonehurst, is a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peop ...

set on in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...

. It was designed for philanthropist

Robert Treat Paine Robert Treat Paine (March 11, 1731 – May 11, 1814) was an American lawyer, politician and Founding Father of the United States who signed the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. ...

in a collaboration between architect

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

and landscape architect

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

. It is located at 100 Robert Treat Paine Drive. Since 1974 the estate has been owned by the City of Waltham and its grounds kept as a public park, and is believed to be the only residential collaboration by Richardson and Olmsted that is open to the public. Robert Treat Paine Estate - interior view

Robert Treat Paine Estate - interior view

History

In 1866, Boston lawyer Robert Treat Paine Jr. and his wife Lydia (Lyman) commissioned architect Gridley James Fox Bryant to build a mansarded Second Empire summer house in Waltham. The house and its site were paid for by George Lyman, Lydia's father and owner of an adjacent summer residence, the

Lyman Estate The Lyman Estate, also known as The Vale, is a historic country house located in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is now owned by the nonprofit Historic New England organization. The grounds are open to the public daily for free; an ad ...

. This house was deemed too small for the Paines and their seven children. In October 1883, Richardson and Olmsted made their first visit to the property to discuss relocating the house and expanding it. In July 1884, Olmsted and Richardson produced sketches for a new site atop a rocky ridge with sweeping views to the southeast. In the spring of 1885, construction began while the Paine family traveled to Europe with

Phillips Brooks Phillips Brooks (December 13, 1835January 23, 1893) was an American Episcopal clergyman and author, long the Rector of Boston's Trinity Church and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts. He wrote the lyrics of the Christmas hymn, " O Little Town o ...

, a family friend and pastor of Trinity Church in Boston. When Richardson died at age 47 in April 1886, the commission was close to completion. The terrace and some interior finishes were completed over the summer. Robert Treat Paine Jr. died in 1910, and the Paine family continued to occupy the house until the mid-1960s. In 1974 Theodore Lyman Storer donated the property to the city of Waltham. Episode #2104 of ''

This Old House ''This Old House'' is an American home improvement media brand with television shows, a magazine, and a websiteThisOldHouse.com. The brand is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The television series airs on the American television netwo ...

'' featured a tour of the estate.

Image gallery

File:PaineEstate sitting area.jpg , Close-up of sitting area File:PaineEstate sundial detail.jpg , Sundial detail on house File:Robert_Treat_Paine_Estate_view_from_house_P1030774.jpg , View from the patio File:Forest_trail_Robert_Treat_Paine_Estate_P1030788.jpg , Forest trail on the grounds

References

Bibliography

Margaret Henderson Floyd Margaret Henderson Floyd (1932 – 18 October 1997) was Professor of Architectural History at Tufts University. She was an expert on Boston architecture. Her writing includes several titles on the work of late 19th-century American architects ...

, "H. H. Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the House for Robert Treat Paine", ''Winterthur Portfolio'', Vol. 18, No. 4 (Winter, 1983), pp. 227–248. *Ann Clifford and Thomas M. Paine. ''Stonehurst, The Robert Treat Paine Estate: An American Masterwork by H.H. Richardson and F.L. Olmsted''. Waltham, Massachusetts: Robert Treat Paine Historical Trust, 2007.

External links

Stonehurst
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic house museums in Massachusetts Paine Estate Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Massachusetts Houses in Waltham, Massachusetts National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts Houses completed in 1866 Museums in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Waltham, Massachusetts 1866 establishments in Massachusetts

History

Image gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

External links