The city-owned Pinebank Mansion has been abandoned since 1976. (Hugh Mattison)

Boston's 138-year-old Pinebank Mansion, once considered an integral part of the city's Emerald Necklace, a downtown system of parks and boulevards designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, will likely be demolished this year because engineers and park officials say it is irreparably damaged.

"There's really not much to sustain," says Mary Hines, spokesperson for the city's parks and recreation department. "An attempt to do so would leave us with something that wouldn't be anything like the original." Hines estimates that it would cost between $5 and $10 million to repair the house. "This just isn't a possibility when there are so many other parts of Emerald Necklace that need money and improvement."

Prospects for restoring the terra-cotta and brick structure now seem bleak. On Jan. 10, the city released an unfavorable structural analysis which concluded that the crumbling building's historic features were unsalvageable.

The New England Conservatory of Music had hoped to use the mansion for a community center where students could perform, but Tanya Maggi, the conservatory's director of performance outreach admits that "unless someone steps up to the plate with a radical plan, it looks like we are going to lose it."

Olmsted incorporated the mansion into his landscape in 1892 as he developed the six-mile space stretching from Boston Common to Franklin Park. It continued to be community owned and operated as a children's museum and parks-department office until it was vacated in 1976. The building's condition began to deteriorate steadily due to vandalism, two fires, and a damaged roof. It is the only remaining original structure in Olmsted's Emerald Necklace.

Despite the report, some preservationists haven't accepted the inevitability of the mansion's destruction. "It's not about money, but determination and vision," says Hugh Mattison, founder of Friends of Pinebank. "There's money for anything if we make it a priority." Last year, Mattison organized a letter-writing campaign to defend the structure's historic and architectural significance.

Before the mansion can be demolished, the parks department must submit demolition plans to the Boston Landmarks Commission, which makes the final decision. Hines says her department will have its plans ready for the commission by the end of the month.

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