Case Estates Area

The Case Estates Area was documented by the Weston Historical Commission in 1994.

Properties
It includes the following properties:
226 Ash Street
84, 86, 89, 101, 102, 128, 130, 132, 131, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 142 Wellesley Street
Case Estates "schoolhouse" and barn at 133 and 135 Wellesley Street
Background
The Case Estates Area and Maple Road/Wellesley Street Area were later combined to form the Case’s Corner Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. To see the original 1994 area form including data sheets and photographs, see Case Estates Area Form.

Summary
The Case Estates Area includes farmhouses, 19th century summer estate buildings, and turn of the century residences set within a horticulturally significant landscape of farm fields, woodlands, orchards, wetlands and landscaped gardens.

Style Representations
Among the houses are good representative examples from the following periods:
  • Colonial Revival
  • Federal
  • Greek Revival
  • Italianate
  • Queen Anne
  • Shingle Style
These include an estate mansion, estate worker housing, and middle class housing. The area includes a total of 15 houses dating between about 1790 and 1952 and also 14 outbuildings, including 10 barns and farm storage buildings.

Structure
Most structures are frame with clapboard and occasionally shingle exteriors; notable exceptions are the shingle and brick estate mansion, a brick barn, and a stucco cow barn. Located throughout the Case Estates Area are plantings of horticultural significance including many specimen trees and shrubs. Stone walls dating from the late 18th to early 20th century exemplify varied construction methods and serve as important landscape features. Because of the large amount of open land, the area retains a distinctly rural feeling.

Location & Land
Located in the geographic center of Weston at the intersection of 4 well-traveled roads, the Case Estates Area occupies approximately 118 acres, of which more than 100 acres are undeveloped. About half the area, approximately 60 acres, is owned by Harvard University and managed by the Arnold Arboretum as a horticultural facility known as the Case Estates. The remaining acreage includes a 35-acre town field, originally part of the Case Estates, and also the Case family estate mansion (now Weston school administrative offices) and privately owned houses that contribute to the character of the area.
The Case Estates land was part of a model farm and horticultural center called Hillcrest Farm