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Parlin house %281%29 Parlin house %282%29
Asa Parlin HouseActon, Massachusetts
Nestled behind Acton’s civic complex on historic Woodbury Lane, the Asa Parlin house is a contributing resource in the Acton Centre Local Historic District. Constructed ca. 1860, the wood-frame house was home to Asa Parlin, a merchant and caretaker of nearby Woodlawn Cemetery, and descendant of Acton’s first settlers. In 1996, the town purchased the house with the intent of creating additional space for library events and accommodating a cultural center.

After many years of deliberations over the best use of the house, the town hired Red Hawk Studio Architects, Inc. and MLLA to prepare an adaptive re-use plan for the property, one that preserved the building exterior, rehabilitated the interior for public events and education programs, and provided both expansive and intimate outdoor spaces for gatherings. RHSA designed a small, partially open-air structure to be built on the back of the house, and included plans to preserve the house’s historic core, including the façade fronting Woodbury Lane. In the landscape, MLLA reconfigured on-site parking, connected the house to the larger civic complex via a system of pathways, and created a gently sloping tent lawn area to accommodate larger congregations. The plan was accepted, approved, and endorsed by Acton’s Design Review Board and Historic District Commission.

  • profile
    • introduction
    • awards
    • publications
    • partners
    • contact
  • portfolio
    • gather
      • provincetown public library
      • saratoga race course
      • lopes square
      • town green
      • stevens estate at osgood hill
      • northampton state hospital memorial park
      • spencer trask memorial & spirit of life
      • joseph simes house
      • Justice Edward Gourdin Veterans' Memorial Park
      • Asa Parlin House
      • Valentine Whitman House
    • stroll
      • fort allen park
      • elizabeth park
      • stark park
      • roseland park
      • greenwich parks
      • north park
      • smith academy park
      • binney park
      • Miantonomi Park
    • learn
      • emily dickinson museum
      • bellamy-ferriday house
      • oren sanborn house
      • faulkner homestead
      • wellfleet historical society & museum
      • hull family farm & homestead
      • roxbury heritage state park
      • Seward House Museum
      • Quarry Farm
      • Arlington Historic Resource Survey
      • Ten Broeck Mansion
    • remember
      • chapel cemetery
      • sleepy hollow cemetery
      • winthrop street cemetery
      • valley cemetery
      • grace church cemetery
      • wilbraham cemeteries
      • church on the hill burying ground
      • bridge street cemetery
      • charter street cemetery
      • ipswich old north burying ground
      • longmeadow cemetery
      • Proctor's Ledge Memorial
      • Mount Hope Cemetery
      • Jacob Cousins Memorial
      • Waterbury Riverside Cemetery
      • Greenlawn Cemetery
      • Evergreen Cemetery
      • God’s Little Acre
      • Sunderland Riverside Cemetery
      • Sand Banks/Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery
    • imagine
      • town of holden, MA
      • town of amherst, NH
      • downtown medfield, MA
      • town of amherst, MA
      • city of fall river, MA
      • town of kittery, ME
      • town of milton, MA
      • town of northfield, MA
      • Town of Medfield, MA
      • Town of Derry, NH

martha lyon landscape architecture, llc