History of the Lincoln House

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy resides in a large shingle-style colonial revival house located at 113 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Harvard Square and next to the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House, a National Park Service Historic Site. Lincoln House was designed by Boston architects Andrews and Jacques and built in 1887 for Edith Longfellow and Richard Henry Dana, whose marriage united two distinguished literary families. Edith's father was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of America's most celebrated nineteenth-century poets, and Richard's father and namesake wrote the 1840 classic, Two Years Before the Mast.

The Institute purchased the house in July 1989 and made extensive restorations and renovations. The front parlor rooms were restored with period wallpaper and furnishings and the entire building was repainted in its original colors. Further renovations to the house resulted in classrooms and offices outfitted with instructional audio-visual and computer equipment successfully combining historic ambience and educational practicality.