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Hunnewell Estates Historic District
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'The Oaks' - Elm Bank Horticulture Center, the gardens and residence of the Arthur Hunnewell Estate.
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| Location: | Wellesley, Massachusetts |
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| Built: | 1851 |
| Architect: | Gilman,Arthur; Et al. |
| Architectural style: | Italianate, Colonial Revival, Late Victorian, 19th & 20th Century Revivals. |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: |
88000438 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | April 14, 1988 |
The Hunnewell Estates Historic District is a historic district between the Charles River and Lake Waban in Wellesley, Massachusetts, near Boston on the west. It consists of the large group of mid 19th to early 20th century estate properties with gardens, residences, and landscapes of the Hunnewell family.[2]
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The Hunnewell estates began with talented industrialist, banker, businessman, landscape designer, and horticulturalist Horatio Hollis Hunnewell in the late 1840s, and continued with his adult children, and the following generations.[2][3] Horatio Hollis Hunnewell and his family gave much to the town of Wellesley, which was renamed after his wife's family - the Welles, and to Boston, with civic philanthropy in numerous fields.
They also were generous to the New England horticulture community for over 75 years via importing, testing, and distributing many new plant introductions, estate site planning and garden design examples, and supportive leadership in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.[3] Horatio Hollis Hunnewell was especially interested in coniferous and broad-leaved evergreens, and Asian rhododendrons.[3]
At their peak during the early 20th century 'American Country Place' era, there were twenty contiguous Hunnewell estates along Washington Street and Pond Road in southwest Wellesley.[2]
The Hunnewell Estates Historic District, still largely owned and occupied by members of the Hunnewell family, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Hundreds of acres in the district have been placed under conservation restrictions with The Trustees of Reservations and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by the Hunnewells, preserving the unique residence gardens, designed estate landscapes, and natural native landscape reserves for future generations.[2]
The district includes the Hunnewell estates of:[2]
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