Gore Place Society

CONTACT:

52 Gore Street
Waltham, MA 02453-6866
781- 894 - 2798
www.goreplace.org

Susan M. Robertson, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Gore Place is the 45-acre estate and farm, on the Waltham-Watertown border, of Christopher Gore (1758-1827) -- prominent Federalist, Governor of Massachusetts (1809) and US Senator (1813-1816). His 1806 brick neoclassical mansion was designed by his wife, Rebecca (1759-1834) with a French architect, J.G. Legrand. President James Monroe, Daniel Webster (Gore's law clerk) and the Marquis de Lafayette were visitors. Other buildings are a 1793 carriage house now used for lectures and events, and an 1835 farmer's cottage featuring a small barnyard of period varieties of sheep, goats (San Clementes) and poultry. Gore Place is a veritable jewel, with excellent, award-winning, year-round family programs. In 1935 however, in the depths of the Great Depression, it was the bankrupt Waltham Country Club. The Waltham Saving Bank held the mortgage, and scheduled an auction to sell the estate, even agreeing to demolish the buildings if the buyer wished. Sixteen far-sighted and philanthropic Bostonians, cognizant of the unique architectural and historic values at stake, arranged with the Bank a $75,000 mortgage, and formed the "Gore Place Society" to save the estate and operate the Mansion as a museum. Now is your chance to become a part of this great story.

(1999: CULTURE: Education: Informal: Historic Preservation)