Robert Treat Paine Estate

The Robert Treat Paine Estate, known as Stonehurst, is a country house set on 109 acres (44 ha) in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was designed for philanthropist Robert Treat Paine (1835-1910) in a collaboration between architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. 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.

The Great Hall

Robert Treat Paine Jr. House
Robert Treat Paine Estate is located in Massachusetts
Robert Treat Paine Estate
Robert Treat Paine Estate is located in the United States
Robert Treat Paine Estate
LocationWaltham, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°23′16.61″N 71°13′53.21″W
Area113 acres (46 ha)
Built1866, 1883–1886
ArchitectHenry Hobson Richardson; Frederick Law Olmsted
Architectural styleShingle Style
WebsiteStonehurst
NRHP reference No.75000291[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 7, 1975
Designated NHLOctober 7, 1975

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.[2] 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, 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 113-acre (46 ha) property to the city of Waltham.[2]

Episode #2104 of This Old House featured a tour of the estate.

  • Close-up of sitting area
    Close-up of sitting area
  • Sundial detail on house
    Sundial detail on house
  • View from the patio
    View from the patio
  • Forest trail on the grounds
    Forest trail on the grounds

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "NHL nomination for Robert Treat Paine Estate". National Park Service. Retrieved April 29, 2014.

Bibliography
  • Margaret Henderson Floyd, "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.
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