Monday, June 25, 2007

Brookline Home One of 11 Most Endangered Places

Via Metafilter, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed its 11 most endangered places on 2007. Making the list this year is the H. H. Richardson House, home to the 19th-century American architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Richardson designed such landmarks as the Trinity Church, Sever Hall at Harvard, the New York State Capitol, Albany City Hall and the William Watts Sherman House in Newport. The building is now vacant and the owner has indicated that he may lift preservation restrictions since no buyers have surfaced after several years on the market. Should that happen, it's likely that a developer would buy the property and tear down the house. The NTHP and local groups such as Preservation Massachusetts are looking for a buyer who would preserve the building as a residence or as an office for a nonprofit organization or foundation. Preservation Mass. has more here, including a photo.

The Richardson House joins several other Massachusetts locales that have made the list over the years including the Old Deerfield Historic District (1988, 1989), Walden Pond and Woods (1990, 1991), Cape Cod (1994), Historic Boston Theaters (1995), Nantucket (2000), Minute Man National Historical Park and Environs (2003), and Historic Catholic Churches of Greater Boston (2005).