Historic Protections for Joshua Lewis House Receive State Support

July 6, 2026
• After a Massachusetts Historical Commission vote on June 10, the town will move ahead with its plans to create stronger protections around the historically significant local home.

The off-white, two-story home at 178 South St. holds 250 years of history within its four walls. Built in 1776, the colonial home notably housed Swiss botanist Denys Zirngiebel, who developed the pansy, Needham’s town flower. Zirngiebel’s grandson N.C. Wyeth and fellow artist Robert Douglas Hunter both lived in the home, which appears in their paintings.

Gloria Greis, executive director of the Needham History Center & Museum and member of the Needham Historic District Commission, considers the South Street property “one of the important historic houses standing in Needham,” she wrote in a study report. That report, submitted to the Massachusetts Historical Commission last month, outlined the home’s place in the town’s history in an effort to establish a single-family local historic district there.

The MHC replied encouraging the town to pursue the LHD, which would provide bolstered protections and ensure the home won’t be destroyed.

“It 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,” Greis said of the LHD in an interview.

The town now awaits a Planning Board public hearing, likely slated for early August, after which the potential bylaw would appear on the October Town Meeting warrant for final approval. The zoning would require a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting.

178 South St. — known as the Joshua Lewis House, named after its builder, and the Zirngiebel-Wyeth House — is listed on the Needham Historic Inventory, which provides a six-month demolition delay. However, that timeline “is trivial,” Greis said, because permitting typically takes more than six months. Most national historic registers are just honorary in nature, she added, except in cases where public funds are spent on public properties, such as the Powers Hall renovation.

Under a LHD, the Joshua Lewis House would appear the same from South Street, but the homeowner can make any renovations to its interior, Greis said. Exceptions apply: the bylaw doesn’t restrict any landscaping or fencing, but rather just focuses on “the exterior integrity,” she said.

The N.C. Wyeth Research Foundation and Reading Libraries, based in Maine, currently owns the property and agreed to pursue the protections. After Greis’ public plea in February to find a “a preservation-minded buyer,” the foundation decided to proceed with a LHD.

Needham established its first local historic district at the Jonathan Kingsbury House, 3 Rosemary St., in May 2024.

Alison Borrelli, chair of the Needham Historic District Commission, said the bylaw strikes a balance between preserving town history and allowing flexibility for changes.

“The first piece to know is that this is voluntary, so the homeowner voluntarily requests to have their property considered for a local historic district,” Borrelli said. “Modifications and future modifications, that’s all spelled out in the bylaw.”

Now, the NHDC is working on creating an application process by which other owners of historic homes can apply to set up a LHD. Most of the commission live in historic homes. Moe Handel lives in the Kingsbury House, and Borrelli lives in another Kingsbury House, which once served as a doctor’s office and residence.

One concern homeowners may have is how LHDs could impact property values. Borrelli, who also works as a real estate agent, said, while the market may be more selective for historic homes, “a market does exist.”

“As my husband’s grandmother said, ‘For every old sock there’s a shoe.’ There’s a match for everybody,” she said. “There are people out there looking for new construction homes. There are people out there looking for an older home. I sold historic homes, and they’re out there looking for these properties that are unique and special and come with a history, and they really want to be the stewards for the next decade, few decades, or generation of that property.”

The NHDC will meet with the Select Board at its July 21 meeting.