[MassHistPres] Olmsted-ricahedson non-contiguous thematic LHD passed

[Hetty Startup]

I shall always think of things like this as non-contagious in future. And
thanks for attaching the report. Good reading! Hetty, Amherst Historical
Commission

On Sun, Dec 5, 2021 at 9:20 AM Dennis De Witt <abtdewitt at rcn.com> wrote:

> PS — I should have said the LHD did pass by 196 yes, 29 no, 7 abstain.
>
> And, four of its five sites are "non-contiguous" not "non-contagious” —
> altho they may be that too.
>
> > On Dec 3, 2021, at 4:53 PM, Dennis De Witt <abtdewitt at rcn.com> wrote:
> >
> > Last spring a proposed extension of a Brookline LHD was unexpectedly
> defeated in Town Meeting by one vote less than the needed ⅔.  The negative
> votes came from two overlapping factions.  One felt the site should be
> available for development.  Although zoned for a version of single family
> allowing only limited multi-unit development, it was argued that such a
> site near a Green Line station and the Longwood Medical Area should be
> developed.  There was also an overlapping general racial equity argument
> based, in part, on the fact that part of the area had once been red lined —
> something that might affect many existing and prospective LHDs, given how
> widespread that Federal practice was at one time.
> >
> > With the above as background for a general sense of trepidation in
> approaching another LHD . . .
> >
> > This fall the Commission came back to Brookline Town Meeting with an LHD
> attempting to save from demolition the 1803 Perkins-Hooper-Richardson
> House, the home and office of Henry Hobson Richardson from 1873 to his
> death in 1886, and the adjacent Mansard “Cliffside," the second Brookline
> home of John Charles Olmsted (FLO’s nephew and adopted son and partner).
> >
> > As they are in the Brookline’s "estate area," there was no possibility
> of creating a contiguous, neighborhood based LHD, given the 80% owner
> support usually expected for a neighborhood LHD by Brookline's Town
> Meeting.
> >
> > Thus, there evolved a proposal to create a non-contagious, thematic
> Olmsted-Richardson LHD that would also include, in addition to the two
> threatened houses, Fredric Law Olmsted’s nearby “Fairsted” home and office,
> a National Historic Landmark and NPS museum, as well as the first John
> Charles Olmsted home, further down the same street, and Richardson’s grave
> marker in Brookline’s Walnut Hill cemetery.  These latter three locations
> were all included with the owners’ support.  (See study report attached
> below.) The Olmsted-Richardson theme was based on their long friendship,
> frequent collaborations, and the fact that Olmsted came to Brookline
> because of Richardson and there emulated Richardson’s conjoined home and
> office.
> >
> > The proposed LHD did not include a lot adjacent to the Richardson lot,
> owned by the same developer who also applied to demolish its nice 1970s
> Deck House.  Even though the lot had once been a part of the Richardson
> lot, it was felt that the 1970s house would confuse the thematic issue in
> Town Meeting.
> >
> > The major discussion in Town Meeting and before was the connections with
> slavery of both the first owner, Samuel G. Perkins, who had previously
> traded goods in Haiti, and Richardson’s family, which had a sugar
> planation, and the need to have a sign at the street in front of the
> Richardson house explaining that — in addition to Richardson and Olmsted
> information.  All have agreed that will happen.
> >
> > The attached study report addresses all of the above — as well as the
> connection of the columned Perkins-Hooper-Richardson house to Mount Vernon
> as a Federalist political statement.  But no one in town meeting cared
> about that.
> >
> > Dennis De Witt
> > Brookline
> > <Olmsted-HHR SR final
> 8.14.21.compressed2.pdf>_______________________________________________
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