February 25, 2008

If You’re Lucky, A Room with a (Park) View

So the state legislature and governor have finally decided to sell the reservoir site on Fisher Hill. That means another park for Brookline. Hooray! Brookline does a great job at providing its residents with green spaces, parks, or, more minimally, a square with a bench. The new park will offer walking trails and an athletic field. It’s not a huge space by any measure — about the size of Amory Park. But any patch of green space adds immeasurably to the quality of life of residents who can take the kids for a stroll, the dog for a walk, or simply commune with a bit of nature when city life gets a little rough. 

That got me to wondering about properties out there that are adjacent to parks. Now in Brookline, you’re never too far from any park. I live in Brighton, believe it or not, and STILL have at least three Brookline parks within easy walking distance to my pad. If I’m willing to walk just a little bit further, I can count at least six more. Not bad for living in the heart of the city.

If you’ve got some money to spend, you might check out this $1.3 million baby across the street from the Jean B. Waldstein Playground, better known as “Dean Road” park among dogpark aficionados. If that seems too pricey, check out this slighltly more modest Victorian condo across from the Cypress Street Playground.  Five bedrooms and almost 2,000 square feet of space give it the feeling of a single family house. Overlooking Emerson Park is another Victorian condo, this time 3 bedrooms.  It boasts a covered balcony overlooking the park so you don’t even have to leave home to enjoy your greenery! Smack between Parsons Field and Brookline Avenue Playground is a 7 bedroom Victorian home that costs a pretty penny but offers something a lot of other older homes don’t — modern systems and amenities that have been thoughtfully redesigned. Also next door to Parsons field, but decidedly more modest is a two-bedroom condo of just 623 square feet. Across from Knyvet Square, a 429 square foot studio   boasts lots of sunlight and a park view. A block from Longwood Square, a beautiful single-family three bedroom costs a small fortune (or a not so small fortune). It’s got such a nice backyard that chances are, you won’t need much more in terms of green space. Across from Downes Field, a three-bedroom, 1,190 square foot condo that is also near Olmstead Park and Jamaica Pond gives you a choice of three nearby green spaces. In fact, I found SO many houses within a block or two of a park in Brookline – near  Warren Field, Reservoir Park, Larz Anderson Park and Dane Park, to name a few— that I finally quit counting. Rest assured that wherever you choose to live in Brookline, chances are that you’ll have a park somewhere close by.

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