A Colonial Farm: Chambers Russell

Chambers Russell (1713-1767), a lawyer, legislator, judge, and a founder of the town of Lincoln, built a two-story Georgian mansion house on the property between 1735 and 1741. On his estate, Russell grew corn, hay, oats, and flax and raised livestock and poultry, in part using slave labor. Russell died in 1767, leaving the estate to be administered by executors during the American Revolutionary War years, on behalf of his son Chambers Russell Jr. By 1790 Chambers Russell Jr. had died without children, leaving the property, which included “the Mansion house with front yard” and the “octagon piece of mowing front of the grate house about five acres” to his six-year-old nephew, Charles Russell Codman. Charles’ father, John Codman, was named executor and began immediately to improve the property on his son’s behalf.

Federal Period Expansion: John Codman

John Codman (1755-1803), who amassed a fortune through shipping and trade, expanded the Codman Estate and used it as his country seat from 1790 to 1803. His improvements brought the house and grounds to a total of 650 acres. Codman’s major impact was to transform the house into a three-story Federal-style mansion, much as it is today. Its design is attributed to the architect Charles Bulfinch.

Influenced by the picturesque views, productive farmland, and gardens of English estates, Codman made improvements to the farm’s agricultural productivity, separated the property’s ornamental landscapes, and installed the invisible retaining wall around the octagon known as a “ha-ha” wall. Codman expanded the house in 1798 and 1799, doubling the staircase, creating a large hall for entertaining, and building a new kitchen ell.

The Codman Estate impressed his Waltham neighbor, his wife’s cousin and a wealthy sophisticate, Rebecca Gore, the wife of a Massachusetts governor, who proclaimed it “the handsomest place in America.”

The Middle Years: Charles Russell Codman

When John’s son Charles Russell Codman (1784-1852) came of age, he inherited the estate. Gradually he sold the house and several hundred acres of land, piece by piece, to support a lifestyle of travel and collecting. A seven-acre strip of land was sold to the Fitchburg Railroad less than 200 yards from the house and, as a result, the MBTA commuter rail train runs past the estate today.

The property was ultimately out of the Codman family for fifty-five years. Charles Russell Codman’s children and grandchildren regretted the sale and endeavored to buy back the property, which they eventually did.

Ogden Codmans, Father and Son

The son of Charles Russell Codman, Ogden Codman, Sr. (1839-1904), married Sarah Bradlee (1842-1922) in 1861. The young couple (pictured) purchased Ogden’s ancestral estate as a country house in 1862 and renamed it “The Grange.” Ogden Sr. worked with his brother-in-law, architect John Hubbard Sturgis, in 1863 on improvements to the house and grounds. They built a new carriage barn, added plumbing and heating, and made several architectural changes. The paneled morning room, which retains its original 1740s woodwork, was redecorated as a library, and the dining room became an Elizabethan-style hall.

The Codmans had invested heavily in Boston real estate. In 1872 these holdings were greatly affected by Boston’s Great Fire. Looking for a more affordable situation while their assets recovered, Ogden, Sarah, and their children relocated to Europe in 1874, ultimately living for many years in Dinard, France.

Becoming a Museum

By the mid-1950s the house was no longer filled with servants. Tom and Dorothy were the only Codman children still alive, and lived there quietly among the family heirlooms. Tom Codman died in 1963 and Dorothy in 1968, leaving the house and immediate grounds to Historic New England. The idea to give the house to Historic New England was put in place by Ogden Jr. in 1920, with the intent to preserve an example of an elegant country estate. The Codman Estate gives a glimpse into the story of four generations of one family’s life and of 350 years of history, with special insight into the daily workings, changing fashions, and family ties of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.