[MassHistPres] Ownership of historic properties

[Dennis De Witt]

The town of Brookline has 6 houses all listed on the NR (1  
individually & 5 in districts) none of which exactly fit your example  
but their histories may be of some use.

The 18th C Edward Devotion house near Coolidge Corner was acquired by  
the town semi-derelict about a century ago and was restored and  
resituated in what is now the forecourt of the Devotion school.  It  
is operated as a house museum by the Town's Historical Society with a  
curator's apt. on the upper floor.

The mid-19th. C Kennard House was an urbane country estate house  
whose property eventually became the Park School.  The Town acquired  
the site when the Park School moved ca. 1970.  Eventually the Town  
reused the site for its new Lincoln School (Graham Gund architect).   
The carriage house was incorporated into the school as a cafeteria  
and the house was turned over to the Brookline Music Schools, which  
up to then had occupied space in various Brookline schools.  The BMS  
"rent" for the house was a) the cost of sensitively rehabbing it  
(Gary Wolf architect -- It had suffered as a Park School building and  
Gund's design had insensitively amputated a wing) and b) providing a  
given amount of scholarship music lessons.  Because of the size of  
the mortgage the BMS undertook, there had to be a waver from the  
state legislature to the usual 10 year cap on leases of town  
buildings to private entities to allow for a longer lease term.

Four houses were acquired ca. 1950 with the gift of the Larz Anderson  
estate (Now Larz Andersen Park).  There was also the estate mansion,  
which the town almost immediately demolished.  (A substantial faction  
in town didn't even want to accept the estate and they were not going  
to waste town money maintaining a "white elephant" mansion.)  The  
mansion-like carriage house was leased out to the Larz Anderson auto  
museum in exchange for maintenance of the building -- and arrangement  
which continues 50 years later.

The oldest of the four Larz Andersen estate houses was the 18th. C  
Window Harris house.  Nominally, it had been put under the purview of  
the Historical Society when the town acquired it but in reality the  
town controlled it.  (Ca. 1950 there was, of course, no Historical  
Commission.).  There were also two mid 19th. C houses.  All three had  
been on properties agglomerated to the estate by the Anderson or Weld  
families.

The fourth estate house, 29 Avon, was a sort of grand tile roofed  
service-yard gate house built into the walls of the estate at about  
the turn of the century.  It is in the portion of the park that is in  
Boston.

Until the '80s and '90s (varying from house to house) the four houses  
were occupied by town employees with varying effects.

The two mid-19th. C houses were the first to have their use  
reconsidered.  After some rehabilitation work by the town, they were  
made available for lease by non-profits who have been in them ever  
since.  One makes films.  This seems to be a satisfactory arrangement.

The Widow Harris house being the oldest and most fragile suffered  
from casual repairs and abuse by a tenant's dog before finally being  
vacated.  An historic structures report was made and, based on that,  
a North Bennett St. School class undertook significant structural and  
other repairs -- doing excellent work.  The house is now occupied by  
a curator of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum and the Historical Society  
is now actively involved in its oversight.

29 Avon was in the worse condition.  The tenant family had moved out  
because of serious neglect, including roofing failure.  Unexpectedly,  
a civic minded citizen, who with her son had some experience in  
rehabilitation work on 19th. C houses, offered to rehab the house in  
exchange for a de facto life tenure.  (If she wasn't eligible for  
Social Security when she undertook this formidable project, she was  
close to it.)  She did a wonderful job and is still living in the  
house -- with town equipment stored in the service yard which it  
helps enclose.

Dennis De Witt

On Apr 8, 2007, at 11:07 PM, Terry McDermott wrote:

> As many of you may know, the town of Wilmington recently (October  
> 2006) acquired the William Butters Farmhouse, a small First Period  
> half house in Wilmington.  I have corresponded with members of this  
> list in the past and I always learn something interesting.
>
> My current question is this - does anyone know of any Massachusetts  
> towns that have endeavored to own and rehabilitate historic  
> residential property?  It is agreed by all that the Butters house  
> is in need of some serious preservation work.  I know Chelmsford  
> recently acquired and ultimately sold an historic property; I know  
> Burlington owns and is still working on fundraising for the  
> Grandview Farm, which I believe is large enough to ultimately serve  
> as a function facility, should the rehab work be funded.  (I also  
> believe that Burlington is finding the whole rehab process to be  
> difficult)  But do any other towns own historic residential  
> property?  I've been trying to look into this issue and it appears  
> to me that town's often end up offloading this type of property to  
> a private society or foundation, which is, perhaps, better  
> positioned to manage a preservation project.  At the heart of the  
> issue for us would be how do we best finance the necessary rehab  
> work for the best, mo
>  st historically sensitive outcome?
>
> A related question is - does anyone know of any towns that own  
> historic property which is rented out to residential tenants?
>
> Any thoughts/experiences that anyone can share would be greatly  
> appreciated.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Terry McDermott
> Curator
> Wilmington Town Museum at the
> Col. Joshua Harnden Tavern, c.1770
> 430 Salem Street
> Wilmington, MA  01887
> 978.658.5475
> htavern at townofwilmingtonma.com
> http://www.town.wilmington.ma.us/old/hist.htm
>
> The Wilmington Historical Commission can also be reached at the above
>  addresses and phone number.
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