Larz Anderson Auto Museum

The Larz Anderson Auto Museum is a car museum in the old Carriage House of the Anderson estate, at 15 Newton Street, Brookline, MA 02445, inside Larz Anderson Park. It is open 10 am – 3 pm, Tuesday through Sunday; admission is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors, students, military with ID and children 6 to 12, and children under 6 get in free. The museum calls its collection "America's Oldest Car Collection." It is run by a nonprofit, not by the Town of Brookline, so its hours, tickets and rules are its own; the park around it is free.

What's Inside

The collection began with the Andersons themselves. According to the museum, the Andersons' collection began with an 1899 Winton 4-horsepower Runabout and grew to 32 motorcars and horse-drawn carriages, which the museum counts among the most significant historic car collections in New England. After Isabel Anderson died in 1948, the collection was entrusted to the VMCCA (an antique-car club), and that arrangement led to the museum that occupies the Carriage House today.

Today the museum describes rotating exhibits, automotive history lectures, family programs and car shows. Exhibits change through the year, so if you are coming for one particular car or display, call ahead rather than assume it is on the floor.

Hours

The museum's published hours are 10 am – 3 pm, Tuesday through Sunday, which means it is closed on Mondays. It also closes on four holidays: New Year's Day, Independence Day (July 4), Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Its online calendar sometimes flags "updated museum hours" or a closure on a given day, so check the museum's Plan Your Visit page the morning you go. The park itself keeps different hours, dawn to dusk.

Tickets and Prices

• Adults: $15
• Seniors, students, military (with ID) and children 6–12: $10
• Children under 6: free
• Museum members: always free
• NARM and ROAM reciprocal-membership participants: free
• Museums for All participants: reduced admission

The museum also sells e-gift cards that cover admission, a family membership or the gift shop. A family membership, by the museum's description, gives free admission to up to four family members plus guest passes.

Lawn Events: the Same Ticket

From May through October the museum holds car shows on its lawn nearly every weekend, each one built around a marque, a country or an era. Spectator admission is the same as museum admission, sold at the front gate on the day only, and it gets you into the museum as well. The museum says spectator tickets never sell out. Shows follow their own start times and policies; our lawn events guide covers arrival, parking and what you can bring.

Getting There and Parking

The museum's address is on Newton Street, and lawn-event visitors are told to enter through the Newton Street entrance. The museum says parking is limited, and on show days it calls parking very limited at the museum, in the park and in the neighborhood, so it recommends carpooling, a rideshare or a bike. There is no overnight parking and no trailer parking anywhere in the park. Read our parking guide for the park's lots and the Town's driving rules.

Tours, School Groups and Private Events

Group tours run by reservation year-round, Tuesday through Friday, between 10 am and 3 pm, according to the museum's tours page, which lists $20 per adult and $15 per student or senior with a $100 minimum per tour. The museum also runs school tours built around its exhibits.

The museum rents the Carriage House for private functions through its Private Events Manager (functions@larzanderson.org, 617-522-6547 x18), with its own list of authorized caterers. That is separate from the Town's outdoor ceremony sites in the park, which Brookline Recreation books; see our weddings page for both.

Dogs, Drones and Other Rules

• No dogs inside the museum except service dogs. Leashed dogs are welcome at outdoor lawn events; the park's own dog rules apply everywhere else.
• No drones at lawn events or anywhere in Larz Anderson Park, per the museum.
• No smoking, vaping, tobacco or marijuana on museum grounds or at museum events.
• No alcohol at lawn events, a rule the museum attributes to the Town of Brookline and Brookline Police.

Make a Day of It

The Town lists no entry fee for the rest of the park. Walk uphill to the Top of the Hill for the Boston skyline, down to the lagoon and the Temple of Love, or bring lunch: lawn-event visitors may picnic on the lawn, and the Town's grill sites can be reserved through Brookline Recreation. In winter, the outdoor ice rink is at 23 Newton Street.