[MassHistPres] Thematic, multi-site Olmsted-Richardson LHD

[Hetty Startup]

Thank you so much for all your efforts - which seem to be paying off under
complicated circumstances. It is very interesting to read about this ever
evolving and unique LHD - but perhaps there will be more like it in future.
I look forward to being in the area (haven't been there since a visit to
the Olmsted NHS on Warren St) and seeing each place mentioned - perhaps a
walking tour of some sort is in order.
Hetty Startup
Amherst Historical Commission

On Fri, Jun 24, 2022 at 9:04 AM sally milne <urbanosally at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dennis,
>      Congratulations unbelievable amount of work and dedication must have
> gone into this.
> Thank you for sharing
> Sally urbano
> Harwich, ma
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 24, 2022 at 8:15 AM Dennis De Witt <abtdewitt at rcn.com> wrote:
>
>> The state’s Attorney General has recently approved Brookline’s new
>> thematic, multi-site Olmsted-Richardson Local Historic District.  Here is a
>> link to the LHD’s study report.  *https://www.brooklinema.gov/DocumentCenter/View/25464/Olmsted-HHR-SR-81421?bidId=
>> <https://www.brooklinema.gov/DocumentCenter/View/25464/Olmsted-HHR-SR-81421?bidId=>*
>>
>> As you may know, in December 2020 a developer applied to demolish both
>> the ca. 1805 Perkins-Hooper-Richardson House, which was the  Brookline home
>> and office of Henry Hobson Richardson for almost the entirety of his
>> relatively brief career, and an adjacent house called Cliffside, the second
>> home of John Charles Olmsted, son and partner of Fredrick Law Olmsted.  At
>> the very end of 2020 the Brookline Preservation Commission imposed an 18
>> Month Demolition Delay (18 months rather than Brookline’s typical 12
>> because both houses are on the National Register in an NRD).
>>
>> (As it happened, at that time there was some increasing anti-LHD feeling
>> in town relating to concerns about affordable housing, racial equity, and
>> Green issues.  As a result, in the spring of 2021 a proposed extension of
>> an existing LHD lost — admittedly by only one vote — despite zero
>> opposition within the proposed extension.  In that case even the developer
>> whose proposal had triggered that proposed LHD extension was on record as
>> favoring the extension.  Needless to say, it was a cause for serious
>> concern.)
>>
>> In the case of the Perkins-Hooper-Richardson House and Cliffside, there
>> were several issues of concern if an LHD, offering permanent protection,
>> was to be brought to town meeting.
>> — First, the developer was also proposing to demolish a nice 1970’s deck
>> house situated on a lot that had once been part of the
>> Perkins-Hooper-Richardson house lot — and it included part of the site of
>> Richardson’s long demolished “coops” office wing.  It seemed likely that
>> inclusion of the 1970s house would confuse the conversation in Town Meeting
>> about the other two, far more important houses and the “thematic” nature of
>> the LHD.
>> — It also happened that the Perkins family had been involved in the slave
>> economy of Haiti before its revolution and Richardson’s family had a sugar
>> planation in Louisiana.  Eventually in Town Meeting there would be
>> discussion about that.
>> — Lastly, Brookline town meeting normally expects ±80% owner buy-in in
>> the creation of an LHD.  Here were three houses owned by an opposed
>> developer and there was no realistic possibility that the immediate
>> abutting up-market estate-area neighbors would join in an LHD.
>>
>> A certain amount of luck, a willingness to negotiate, and a number of
>> strategic decisions in formulating the LHD proposal eventually lead to
>> creation of the LHD.
>> Particularly, it was decided to propose a thematic multi-site LHD —
>> something that existed in the context of NRDs and has developed on an ad
>> hoc basis in a few pre-existing LHDs but, it seemed, may never have been
>> the explicit initial concept of an LHD. The professional and “home with
>> office” practice-style links between Olmsted and Richardson made the hybrid
>> theme logical.  It was also possible to identify enough property
>> controlling interests that supported inclusion in the LHD of specific other
>> sites.
>>
>> In addition to the Perkins-Hooper-Richardson House and Cliffside, the
>> Olmsted-Richardson LHD has three other sites
>> — Fairsted, the National Park Service’s Olmsted Historic Site at 99
>> Warren St.
>> — The first home of John Charles Olmsted and his wife at 12 Warren St.
>> — Richardson’s grave in Brookline’s Walnut Hill Cemetery.
>> (The Commission did reluctantly exclude the beautifully sited 1970’s deck
>> house because it did not fit the LHDs theme.)
>>
>> Since the successful vote for the Olmsted-Richardson LHD at the Fall 2021
>> town meeting, the Preservation Commission has been negotiating design
>> review with the developer as mitigation under demolition delay until the
>> LHD could come into effect.  Because of the exclusion of the 1970s house,
>> it was decided reluctantly to allow the repositioning of the
>> Perkins-Hooper-Richardson house onto the larger Cliffside lot to give it a
>> better and more visible setting.
>>
>> Three issues remain . . .
>>
>> First, there was an understanding at the time of the town meeting vote
>> that signage relating to the slavery issue would be placed in the context
>> of the Perkins-Hooper-Richardson House.  Given the realities of the site
>> and a need to cover all issues fully and fairly, a formulation of this
>> seems to be evolving in consultation with proponents, involving some sort
>> of signage for each site with QR code links to a web site
>>
>> Second, the developer has agreed to the recording of permanent
>> landscaping viewshed easements to allow both the Perkins-Hooper-Richardson
>> House and Cliffside to be seen from Warren Street
>>
>> Last but certainly not least, the only interior space in the
>> Perkins-Hooper-Richardson house designed by Richardson was his remarkable
>> Studio-Bedroom.  It, of course, was not protected by the LHD.  Negotiations
>> are underway for it to be removed and reconstructed in the context of a
>> specific Richardson designed building elsewhere.
>>
>> Dennis De Witt
>> Brookline
>>
>>
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