Old Chestnut Hill Historic District

Old Chestnut Hill is a residential neighborhood in the east of Newton, Massachusetts, laid out along Hammond Street, which was referred to as a highway by 1658. Hammond family farms occupied the land for generations. After Beacon Street was extended in 1850 and a railroad station opened, the Lee family subdivided their farm and promoted the area to Boston businessmen. Development grew faster after the Circuit Railroad opened in 1886. The district holds large houses on spacious, landscaped lots, built mainly between 1880 and 1900 in Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival, Tudor Revival and Shingle styles. Several were designed by known architects, including Welles Bosworth and William Ralph Emerson. Two Hammond houses survive, one dated 1723 and one c.1662, the latter considered the oldest structure in Newton. The district also includes the Church of the Redeemer and Chestnut Hill Chapel. It was listed for retaining the character of an upper-class late nineteenth-century suburb.