A Twentieth-century Story with Eighteenth-century Roots Jutting into the Atlantic Ocean just northeast of Manchester, Massachusetts, is 116 acres of farm and forest land that Thomas Jefferson Coolidge purchased in 1871. The property became known as Coolidge Point at Manchester-by-the-Sea. Throughout the century that followed, the Coolidge family built, modified, and demolished residences and supporting buildings, such as cottages, barns, stables, and garages, altering the landscape to accommodate their changing needs and ideals.
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oolidge Point is perhaps best known for Marble House, a mansion designed by noted architectural firm McKim, Mead and White for Thomas Jefferson Coolidge Jr. in 1902– 1904 and demolished in 1958. However, the property also has hosted a Modern structure that replaced Marble House, it too now demolished, and a surviving farmhouse called Lily Pond House, dated c. 1870. Over the years land was sold outside the family for other private residences, and sixty-six acres were generously donated to The Trustees of Reservations to preserve as public open space, known today as the Coolidge Reservation. Thomas Jefferson Coolidge’s father married President Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughter Ellen Wayles Randolph in 1825, linking one of New England’s most prominent families to one of Virginia’s. Continuing the Coolidge family legacy, Dr. Catherine Coolidge Lastavica spent much of her youth at Coolidge Point, including in Marble House, the home of her beloved grandmother. In 1968, Dr. Lastavica built her own home at Coolidge Point, known today as The Brick House. A medical doctor, Dr. Lastavica is also devoted to the study of history, especially the history of ancestor Thomas Jefferson and his Coolidge family descendants. For the design of The Brick House, Dr. Lastavica engaged George H. Sherwood, an architect experienced in historical restoration projects from his work for Perry, Shaw and Hepburn, architects of Colonial Williamsburg and for the Society for
A small portrait of Thomas Jefferson c. 1800, artist unknown. BELOW Watercolor of the front of the McKim, Mead and White-designed mansion, Marble House. ABOVE
Fall 2016 Historic New England
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