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synopsis

In 1872 while working at the Department of Public Works in New York City, Frederick Law Olmsted began his correspondence advising the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital on the location for McLean Asylum. He evaluated various properties looking at their atmospheric, structural, and moral conditions. In 1875 the 107-acre "Waverly" lands on Wellington Hill in Belmont were acquired.

In 1872 while working at the Department of Public Works in New York City, Frederick Law Olmsted began his correspondence advising the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital on the location for McLean Asylum. He evaluated various properties looking at their atmospheric, structural, and moral conditions. In 1875 the 107-acre "Waverly" lands on Wellington Hill in Belmont were acquired. In his 1872 Report, Olmsted had written that "The wooded land of Belmont, judiciously thinned to groups and glades, opened by walks of long curves and easy slopes, would, by the time your buildings were ready for occupancy, afford what is chiefly wanted in this respect better than it would be possible to provide it, with the most generous use of all available means, in many years, either at the Arlington, Waltham or any other locality with which I am acquainted in the suburbs of Boston." [FLO to HBRogers_1872-12-13_LOC-FLOP-SF-R25_Hospitals, mental-im.10-18]

By 1893, sixty-nine acres had been added to the site which was renamed McLean Hospital and the numerous cottage buildings shown on a plan in The McLean Hospital archives by Joseph H. Curtis were being readied for the first patients in 1894. Ironically in Olmsted's later years he would return to the McLean Hospital as a patient.

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