The Revitalist

The Cottage Street manion in question.

Red Sox owner John Henry has filed papers with Brookline Town Hall to request a demolition permit for his Cottage Street mansion. He bought the property from Dodgers owner and developer Frank McCourt for $16 million. The 1939 Georgian Revival main house is 13,000 square feet, and an accompanying parcel has a 5,000 sq ft guest house, also slated for demo. The papers suggest that he would prefer to replace the existing structures with one house of similar scale that straddles four parcels that Henry has assembled. The Brookline Preservation Commission will review the application and rule on a possible demo delay of 12 months. Apparently, Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott were the architects of the main house, so that will contribute to its significance.

A $16M, 13,000 sq ft teardown? What is this world coming to?

It's interesting to note that relatively short Cottage Street is also the location of the H.H. Richardson House, whose future remains endangered. Looks like Brookline has some real preservation issues to chew on.