Imagine living in a mountain cottage, alongside a tidal inlet, in a Gilded-Era coachman’s house, along a winding river, or at the end of a country road, surrounded by a meadow sea.  Imagine those properties surrounded by acres of undeveloped natural beauty, where your neighbors are passing hikers, wildflowers, towering trees, songbirds and chipmunks.  If these unequalled settings sound appealing, you may be interested in the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Historic Curatorship Program.  The Curatorship Program is an innovative leasing program that promotes private sector investment in historic, public properties that are currently surplus to state use.

Through the Program, a “Curator/Tenant” is selected to rehabilitate, reuse and maintain one of the Program’s properties in exchange for credit towards lease payments in a “work for credit” system.  A Curator/Tenant is chosen through an open and competitive process.

Average lease terms range from 20 to 30 years.  To date, nine of the Program’s properties are under agreement, totaling an investment of almost $5 million from the private sector into state-owned historic properties.  The Program includes residential, commercial and institutional properties.

Contact Us:
Historic Curatorship Program
Department of Conservation and Recreation
251 Causeway St.
Suite 600-700
Boston, MA 02114

HCP.Requests@state.ma.us