Shattuck Hospital
Featured Project
Shattuck Hospital
Featured Project
A once-in-a-generation chance to restore much-needed parkland for Boston’s Black and Brown communities.
For decades, Franklin Park has been a key resource for neighboring Black and Brown communities, providing a gathering space for events and a welcome respite from city life—precisely what Frederick Law Olmsted intended when he designed it. Over time, the addition of other uses—including the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, Franklin Park Zoo, William J. Devine Golf Course and Boston Parks Maintenance Yard—have eaten away at the parkland. Today, 40% of the park’s 526 acres is inaccessible for free public use.
Franklin Park, 1906
Credits:
Courtesy of the Boston Archives
Heathfield, the area which would become the Shattuck Hospital, on Olmsted's 1885 plan for Franklin Park
Credits:
Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Today, the Shattuck Hospital towers above Franklin Park
Credits:
Emerald Necklace Conservancy
Franklin Park, 1906
Credits:
Courtesy of the Boston Archives
Heathfield, the area which would become the Shattuck Hospital, on Olmsted's 1885 plan for Franklin Park
Credits:
Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Today, the Shattuck Hospital towers above Franklin Park
Credits:
Emerald Necklace Conservancy
HISTORY & IMPACT
Shattuck Hospital was built on “Heathfield,” originally designed as a large meadow with shade trees, after the City transferred 13 acres of parkland to the Commonwealth for building the hospital in 1949. The 70-year-old building has reached the end of its useful life, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) intends to demolish it and relocate most of its services to the Boston Medical Center in the South End. On June 21, 2023, The Commonwealth provisionally designated the Boston Medical Center Team as the redevelopment partner for the Shattuck Hospital site at Morton Street. The provisional designation allows BMC to begin due diligence efforts to advance the project. BMC’s development proposal is not a final plan for implementation, and it is currently subject to explorations of feasibility and ongoing public engagement. The BMC team’s initial proposal includes two facilities with 326 treatment beds, 200 units of permanent supportive housing, 205 units of family supportive housing, 120 emergency housing beds and seven-plus acres of green and open space.
Franklin Park, 1906
Credits:
Courtesy of the Boston Archives
Heathfield, the area which would become the Shattuck Hospital, on Olmsted's 1885 plan for Franklin Park
Credits:
Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Today, the Shattuck Hospital towers above Franklin Park
Credits:
Emerald Necklace Conservancy
History
Franklin Park officially opened in 1885 and became the crown jewel of the Emerald Necklace. Its centerpiece, the “Country Park” (now the Wilderness and Scarboro Pond), was designed to feel almost untouched—an antidote to industrial urban life.
Over time, Franklin Park has become a hub for recreation and culture, adding features like the golf course, athletic fields, and eventually, the Franklin Park Zoo. While parts of Olmsted’s original vision were altered through the 20th century, today restoration is focused on reclaiming the park’s ecological health and historic landscape character.
Project partners
This future of the Shattuck Hospital Site will be shaped by a community of partners. Explore who is helping create a greener, more verdnat future for all.
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Project Documents
Want to learn more about the project? Check out our related documents.
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Land & water
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The world didn't start with Olmsted. For millennia before and in the centuries since Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Emerald Necklace park system for a rapidly industrializing city and metropolitan area, the lands and waters of and around Greater Boston have served as a site of exchange among communities including the Massachusett, Pawtucket, Wampanoag and Nipmuc peoples. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy acknowledges the Greater Boston region as their unceded ancestral territories. This acknowledgement is a starting point toward right relations with Indigenous neighbors and their understandings of land stewardship.
Shattuck Visitor Center
Year-Round
Mon-Fri 9:30am – 5pm
May-October
Sat-Sun 10am – 4pm
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 04-3414988.
Land & water
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The world didn't start with Olmsted. For millennia before and in the centuries since Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Emerald Necklace park system for a rapidly industrializing city and metropolitan area, the lands and waters of and around Greater Boston have served as a site of exchange among communities including the Massachusett, Pawtucket, Wampanoag and Nipmuc peoples. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy acknowledges the Greater Boston region as their unceded ancestral territories. This acknowledgement is a starting point toward right relations with Indigenous neighbors and their understandings of land stewardship.
Shattuck Visitor Center
Year-Round
Mon-Fri 9:30am – 5pm
May-October
Sat-Sun 10am – 4pm
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 04-3414988.
Land & water
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The world didn't start with Olmsted. For millennia before and in the centuries since Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Emerald Necklace park system for a rapidly industrializing city and metropolitan area, the lands and waters of and around Greater Boston have served as a site of exchange among communities including the Massachusett, Pawtucket, Wampanoag and Nipmuc peoples. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy acknowledges the Greater Boston region as their unceded ancestral territories. This acknowledgement is a starting point toward right relations with Indigenous neighbors and their understandings of land stewardship.
Shattuck Visitor Center
Year-Round
Mon-Fri 9:30am – 5pm
May-October
Sat-Sun 10am – 4pm
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 04-3414988.