Landmark Homes: History of a Brookline Queenanne Restoration

One of our favorite things about what we do is getting to update historically significant beauties such as our QUEENANNE project. Built in 1884 for Charles Storrow and Martha Cabot Storrow, this home is a Queenanne, an eclectic style of the Victorian era featuring steeply pitched, irregular roof shapes and differing wall textures.

The original landscaping was done by F.L. Olmsted, who famously designed Central Park, The Emerald Necklace, and the US Capitol. The landscape features a ravine with an overarching stone bridge and hills encased by walls made of rough puddingstone boulders.

We were able to get ahold of some photos of the house with its original landscape from 1916 which we compared with some current photographs. Some things have definitely changed -look at that old car in the first image- but a lot has also remained the same.

We love putting our mark on historic homes while striving to keep the authenticity of the original design. It is important to us to create something that reflects the original intentions of the house, while also allowing it to gain a new life that will hopefully leave a lasting impression on future generations.

The collection of images from the Olmsted Archives can be found at

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/olmsted_archives/sets/72157661355298869/

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/olmsted_archives/sets/72157646439255898/