Needham residents will get their first chance to weigh in on whether to protect one of the town's oldest homes from potential demolition when the Historic District Commission holds a public hearing on Thursday, August 6, at 6 p.m.
The hearing concerns a proposed Local Historic District designation for 178 South Street, known as the Joshua Lewis House. The 1776 colonial sits on 1.25 acres overlooking the Charles River and has ties to artist N.C. Wyeth and Swiss botanist Denys Zirngiebel, Needham's famed "Pansy King."
The commission posted the agenda with the Town Clerk's Office on Tuesday, July 28. The hearing will take place in the Great Plain Room at Town Hall, 1471 Highland Ave., with a Zoom option available (Meeting ID: 87550253771).
Why the urgency
The property is for sale. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982, it carries an asking price of just over $1.8 million. Realtor Michael Niden, who has shown the home hundreds of times since it hit the market in fall 2024, told the Select Board in March, according to Needham Observer coverage, that at least one prospective buyer planned to tear it down and build a 17,000-square-foot replacement.
"If we miss the window, we may lose the property," HDC member Moe Handel warned at a June 3 commission meeting.
The home's current owner, the N.C. Wyeth Research Foundation and Reading Libraries, has agreed to the designation. The foundation was originally funded by Linda Bean, granddaughter of L.L. Bean, who purchased the house in 2019 but died in March 2024 before her preservation plans could be completed.
Under a Local Historic District, the house's exterior appearance from South Street would be protected, but the homeowner could still renovate the interior freely. Gloria Greis, executive director of the Needham History Center & Museum and an HDC member, said at a July 6 commission meeting that the designation "really just addresses demolition and visible streetscape, so you should maintain the historic appearance of the house from the part that's visible from the street."
Without the LHD, the property's only protection is a six-month demolition delay tied to its listing on the Needham Historic Inventory.
The Massachusetts Historical Commission voted on June 10 to encourage the town to pursue the designation, following a study report Greis submitted outlining the home's significance.
A house with deep Needham roots
Zirngiebel acquired the property by the 1870s and developed the hybrid Giant Swiss Pansy there, which became Needham's town flower. His daughter Henriette married Andrew Wyeth, N.C. Wyeth's father, and N.C. Wyeth lived and painted at the house starting in 1921. His circa-1922 oil painting "The Charles River in the Fall" is said to depict the view from the property's backyard. As we reported July 27, Wyeth descendants donated that painting to the Needham Free Public Library.
What comes next
If the August 6 hearing proceeds favorably, the proposed bylaw would appear on the October Town Meeting warrant, according to Needham Local. Final approval would require a two-thirds majority vote. The 178 South Street property would become Needham's second Local Historic District, following the Jonathan Kingsbury House at 3 Rosemary St., which was designated by Town Meeting in May 2024.
