Needham’s newest committee is the six-member Historic District Commission, charged with establishing new Local Historic Districts (LHD) to assist owners who choose to preserve the look and design of Needham’s historic houses during their ownership and beyond. Designating a property or neighborhood as an LHD ensures the historic exterior of the home will not be significantly changed. It requires a design review of any expansion or renovation. Such districts were established by state law in 1955.
Needham currently has one LHD, established by a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting in 2024. It is a one-house district, a phenomenon that is common across the state. The LHD consists of only the 1779 Jonathan Kingsbury house, currently owned by Elizabeth and Moe Handel, located at 3 Rosemary St.
Moe Handel, who worked to create the LHD for his home, is a member of the new Select Board-appointed committee, which also includes Alison Borrelli, Gloria Greis, Brian LeMay, Sara Squeglia and Lauren Soper. The committee met twice in the last two weeks of May in order to speed the creation of a second LHD at 178 South St., the former home of NC Wyeth. According to realtor Michael Niden, the current owner hopes to sell the 1.25-acre property that includes a large backyard with dramatic frontage on the Charles River. The current owner has agreed to put the home in an LHD to preserve it, but a sale before special Town Meeting’s potential approval in October would complicate the preservation efforts.
The creation of an LHD involves significant legwork and state law requires a 60-day waiting period that includes opportunity for public comment. “If we miss the window, we may lose the property,” Handel said.
Alison Borrelli, chair of the committee and a Needham-based realtor, worked on Needham’s first LHD. She said that because of that effort, this project and the creation of any future LHDs will be more streamlined.
Member Gloria Greis, who is also director of the Needham History Center & Museum, said that the owner of the 1730 James Smith House at 1706 Great Plain Ave. is also interested in creating an LHD.
Vice Chair Lauren Soper said that ideally, all of the historic homes in town should be protected and that the committee should also work to create multi-home LHDs that protect the historic character of neighborhoods.
Handel stressed that this is a voluntary process and that it doesn’t work without the home owner’s cooperation.
“We’ve lost more than we’ve saved,” Greis said. “Being able to create a durable preservation mechanism has a lot of value. A lot of people say they don’t want their house torn down. Neighborhood stability does have an economic value.”
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