{"nrhp_refnum":"85003245","name":"Anderson, Larz, Park Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by Goddard and Avon Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brookline","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.31209400000006,"lon":-71.13592113496927,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A district of about 62 acres in Brookline, Massachusetts, centered on the town-owned Larz Anderson Park, the former Weld/Anderson estate. It contains landscape features and several buildings, from the 1760s to the 1970s.","why_significant":"The district was one of Brookline's grandest estates and the country home of Larz and Isabel Anderson. Larz Anderson served as a US ambassador. It also preserves landscape design by Charles Platt and includes two 18th-century structures and one mid-19th-century house.","narrative":"Larz Anderson Park in Brookline covers almost 62 acres of town-owned land that once formed the Weld estate, called \"Windy Top\" and later \"Weld.\" The land was earlier the Goddard family's property. After Isabel Perkins Anderson acquired the estate in 1899, the grounds were landscaped to plans by Charles Platt. Her husband Larz Anderson served as a United States ambassador, and the couple entertained political and social figures here. The estate passed to the Town after her death in 1948, with a requirement that it serve educational and recreational purposes. Surviving features include a lagoon, a tree allee, a gazebo and remnants of an Italian garden. Buildings include the Wheelwright-designed carriage house, now a transportation museum, a stucco gatehouse, the Putterham School dating from the 1760s, a late 18th-century cottage and an Italianate house of the mid 19th century. Later skating and service buildings are noncontributing.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles Platt (landscape); Edward Wheelwright; Wheelwright and Haven","architectural_style":"Variety of architectural styles, including an Italianate house and a carriage house said to be modelled on the Chateau de Chaumont","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Park owned by the Town of Brookline and used for recreation. The carriage house holds the Museum of Transportation as tenant. Some small outbuildings are deteriorating, and the mansion was demolished in the 1960s.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.903292-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/7926/63792694/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85003245.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003245/b0effa7b10-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003245/b0effa7b10-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Biruitorul","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LarzAnderson4.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Biruitorul</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LarzAnderson4.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792694","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larz_Anderson_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6492004"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/anderson-larz-park-historic-district-85003245/"}