Waltham Real Estate

Waltham is an industrial city by origin. In 1814 the Boston Manufacturing Company built an integrated textile mill on the Charles River here, and later the Waltham Watch Company turned out so many timepieces that the city became known as the Watch City. Both complexes still stand by the river. Today the city, about nine miles west of downtown Boston, mixes those brick mill buildings with dense residential streets, university campuses and the office parks along Route 128.

Central Square and Waltham Common sit at the heart of downtown, and Moody Street runs south from them across the river with a long stretch of restaurants, bars and shops. A riverwalk follows the Charles past the old mills. Beyond downtown are Prospect Hill Park to the west, the historic Lyman Estate, the Robert Treat Paine Estate designed by H. H. Richardson and Frederick Law Olmsted, and the campuses of Bentley to the north and Brandeis to the south. Gore Place, a Federal-era mansion, sits on the Watertown line.

Since Waltham is a city with distinct sections, from the dense South Side to the more spread-out north, it helps to narrow down which part of town fits your daily routine before you start touring. Spend an evening on Moody Street, then drive the hills north of Main Street and the streets off Lexington Street, and the differences in housing and pace become clear quickly.