Longwood Historic District

Longwood is a 52-acre residential district in eastern Brookline, a short distance from downtown Boston. Its regular street grid, mature trees and Longwood Square, with its European beech grove, reflect planned suburban development that began around 1850. Financier David Sears and businessman Amos A. Lawrence developed much of the land after the Brookline Branch Railroad arrived. The streets hold a varied collection of mid-to-late 19th century houses in Mansard, Queen Anne, Shingle and Georgian Revival styles, along with Gothic Revival brick townhouses on Monmouth Court designed by George Putnam in 1876. Christ's Church, built in 1860 of Roxbury pudding stone, and the Church of Our Saviour, built in 1867 with Tiffany chancel windows, anchor the district's religious history. Longwood Towers, a Gothic Revival apartment complex from 1923, adds a larger-scale element. The district was listed for its architectural variety and its ties to Sears, Lawrence and other prominent Bostonians who lived there.