A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a Preservation Restriction at 90 Brattle Street

CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL COMMISSION 831 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd Fl., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Telephone: [phone removed] TTY: [phone removed] Fax: [phone removed] E-mail: histcomm@cambridgema.gov URL: http://www.cambridgema.gov/Historic Bruce A. Irving, Chair; Susannah Barton Tobin, Vice Chair; Charles Sullivan, Executive Director Joseph V. Ferrara, Chandra Harrington, Elizabeth Lyster, Jo M. Solet, Yuting Zhang, Members Gavin W. Kleespies, Paula A. Paris, Kyle Sheffield, Alternates September 11, 2024 To: Yi-An Huang, City Manager From: Charles Sullivan, Executive Director Re: 90 Brattle Street Preservation Restriction for City Council Approval Historic New England, a regional historic preservation non-profit organization, has been working with property owner Susan Paine to ensure that her nationally significant property, the Mary Fiske Stoughton House at 90 Brattle Street, is protected with a Preservation Restriction. The Stoughton House is a large shingle style dwelling designed by H.H. Richardson in 1882 (with later c. 1900 and c. 1925 additions) that is nationally significant as a domestic commission by Richardson as well as an early and influential example of Shingle Style design. The property is a National Historic Landmark and is also individually listed in the National Register of His- toric Places. Publicly-visible exterior features are protected by the Cambridge Historical Com- mission through the Old Cambridge Historic District. The proposed restriction will protect sig- nificant interior features and exterior features not visible from public ways. Historic New England holds more than 125 preservation restrictions across New England, in- cluding the Chadwick House in North Cambridge and several nearby in Boston, Brookline, New- ton, Waltham, and Medford. Pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 184, Sections 31, 32 and 33, the City Council must vote to approve the restriction in order for it to be valid in perpetuity. The Cambridge His- torical Commission concurs that the Stoughton House is historically significant for its architec- ture and its historical and cultural associations; that it qualifies for the protections of a perpetual preservation restriction under Chapter 184; and that the restriction will serve the public interest in a manner consistent with the purposes of the statute. On September 5, 2024, the Historical Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council approve the proposed restriction. Attachment cc: Dylan Peacock, Historic New England