The estate is viewed looking northeast over Sargent Pond from Cottage St. It was acquired in 1871 by Charles Sprague Sargent who had grown up in the nearby house of his father, Ignatius Sargent. It was incorporated into an elaborately-landscaped group of houses of extended family members that became known as “Holm Lea”. At Sargent’s death in 1927, his daughter, Alice Sargent, assumed ownership of the now 40-room mansion. She was born in the house, never married, and would live her entire life there spending her later years living with ten staff and their family members. She died in 1946 and the house was purchased by architect George Brewster who had it demolished and replaced with the structure that stands at the same address today.

[Courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth (CC BY-NC-ND). From the Brookline Photograph Collection published by the Public Library of Brookline]