Brookline -- Weld

The date is given in the handwritten correspondence on verso. Postcard published by Valentine & Sons' Publishing Co., New York and Boston.

Also known as Larz Anderson Garden.

Larz and Isabel Anderson created fashionable and personally inspiring gardens on a property they named "Weld" in honor of her grandfather, William Fletcher Weld. The gardens served as inspiration for Isabel's writings of children's stories. They also evoked the history of Larz and Isabel's family heritage. During their ownership, the garden plan was nearly square, with a built-up enclosure of terrace and balustrades on the sides. A pergola stood at the end. The lowest level of the garden contained the mall and flower beds. A grove of trees shut off the formal garden from the house. Semicircular cement seats are located at each end of the 380 foot allee. Isabel left Weld to the town of Brookline for public recreation and public education. Brookline renamed Weld "Larz Anderson Park." Sited as not suited for a public facility, the house was razed and the gardens were destroyed or abandoned. The stables now house the Museum of Transportation, founded in 1949 with the Andersons' motor car collection. In 1990, an effort was attempted to stabilize the few remaining structures. Bulldozing of the grounds now makes restoration difficult. Persons and firms associated with the garden include: William F. Weld (former owner of land); Larz and Isabel Weld Perkins Anderson (former owners, -1948); Town of Brookline (present owners, 1948-present); Edmund M. Wheelwright (architect of house, stable and garage, begun 1885); Charles A. Platt (architect of Italian garden, grove and bowling green,1901); Fox and Gale (architects of rose garden and tennis courts, 1902); Onchi San (gardener of Japanese garden, 1907); Little and Browne (architects of water garden and Chinese garden and additions to house, 1910-1916).