Nomination for Lewis, Joshua, House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

FHR-8-300 (11-78) United States Department of the interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries - complete applicable sections 1. Name For HCRS use only received MAR 3 1982 date entered APR 1 1982 historic Joshua Lewis House and/or common Same 2. Location street & number 178 South Street city, town Needham N/A - vicinity of NA not for publication 9th Massachusetts state congressional district Norfolk 025 county code 021 code 3.

Classification Category X district _ building(s) structure site object Ownership public X private both Public Acquisition _ in process .being considered Status Xoccupied - unoccupied - work in progress Accessible X yes: restricted - yes: unrestricted no Present Use - agriculture _commercial _educational _ entertainment - government _industrial _ military museum park private residence religious scientific transportation other: 4. Owner of Property name Robert J. and Joan Dunkle street & number 178 South Street city, town Needham NA vaniy ot 5. Location of Legal Description Massachusetts state courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Norfolk County Registry of Deeds street & number High Street city, town Deedham Representation in Existing Surveys Inventory of Historic Assests title of the Commonwealth state Massachusetts has this property been determined elegible?

- yes X no date 1977 federalX state - - local depository for survey records Massachusetts Historical Commission city, town Boston State Massachusetts 7. Description NEEDHAM: Joshua Lewis House, 178 South Street Condition X excellent good fair _deteriorated - ruins unexposed Check one X unaltered - altered Check one X original site _moved date Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

The Joshua Lewis House stands on a most favorable site of one and a half acres overlooking the meandering Charles River. The simple Georgian farmhouse is clearly vernacular in origin and remains largely unchanged in its architecture and setting. The wood frame house is thought to have been built in 1776, and has the 2½ stories, gable roof, five bay facade, and central chimney characteristic of the period. Only one room deep in the main block, an original leanto and later side and rear wings extend the living space considerably. Original fenestration consists of six over six sash. Centered on the facade is a very simple entrance, its molded architrave framing a door and narrow full-height side- lights. As is typical of the central chimney plan, the interior of the Joshua Lewis House features front parlors, a rear kitchen (in the leanto), and a steep narrow stairway in the front hall.

Wainscotting, exposed corner posts, and original chimneypieces highlight the interior finishing. 0 228 Additions to the building include a two-story modern kitchen wing on the northeast side and a large two-story wing on the south side. Several new window units and an exterior chimney have been added at the rear of the house, but the main block---including its facade--- remains essentially as built. The house is generally in good repair, thanks to the restora- tion and maintenance provided by the present owner.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance Period - prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 X 1700-1799 1800-1899 1900- Areas of SignificanceCheck and justify below _ archeology-prehistoric - community planning archeology-historic _ conservation X agriculture _ economics _ architecture _ education X art - engineering commerce :exploration/settlement communications _industry _ invention _ landscape architecture law literature military . music - philosophy - politics/government - religion science - sculpture _ social/ humanitarian _ theater _ transportation other(specify) Specific dates 1776 Builder

Statement of significance

/Architect Joshua Lewis Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Joshua Lèwis House possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship. It is an interesting architectural piece, but its major signiticance 1n local and national history derives from the people who have lived in it. The house has i been associated with prominent local landowners of the eighteenth century, a noted wood- carver of the mid-nineteenth century, the innovative horticulturist Denys Zirngiebel t. envo ca Bieo Tis and his friend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and finally the artist N.C. Wyeth. The Lewis House thus meets Criterion B of the National Register of Historic Places: The housewas built circa 1776 by Joshua Lewis on property which had been inherited by his wife, Mary Lyon, from her father, a principallandowner in the town.

Joshua Lewis and and Mary Lyon were married in 1776, and the house was probably built in that year. After the death ofhis parents, the housewas occupied and owned by Joshua Lewis, JI. Little is known of these early Lewises, although Capt. Joshua Lewis, Jr., was listed on the rolls of the East Needham Militia Company in 1817. The house was sold out of the Lewis family in 1835. After passing through two ownerships it was bought in 1858 by David Livingston, a well-known woodcarver of the time. The stairway of the Old Boston State House is an example of his work. It was bought in 1864 by James Black, who rented the property to Denys Zirngiebel, who bought it from Black in1874. Denys Zirngieble was a Swiss horticulturist who had been a student of Louis Agassiz, the famous naturalist, at the University of Neufchatel.

Zirngiebel followed Agassiz to the United States in 1855, and finally followed him to Cambridge and Harvard, where he took charge of the Harvard Botanical Gardens, which later became the Arnold Arboretum. At this time, it is said, he assisted Asa Grey in compiling Grey's Botany. In 1865 he established the Greendale Greenhouses on this property in Needham, and he sent a weekly shipment to Washington for the decoration of the White House. He was also credited with developing an improved system for heating greenhouses. The foundations of his own greenhouses are still visible along South Street, east of the house. During these years a frequent visitor at the house was the poet Longfellow, who had become Zirngiebel's friend when Agassiz, Longfellow, and Zirngiebel were neighbors in Cambridge. Longfellow enjoyed the opportunity to talk French with the Zirngeibels.

For years a large tree on the bank of the river behind the house was known as "Mr. Longfellow's tree" because, it was said that he often sat in its shade and that it was there he wrote "To the River Charles," which begins with the stanza: "River! that in silence windest Through meadows bright and free Till at length they rest thou findest In the bosom of the sea." 9. M 'or B bliographica References Jones, Frederic, Old Houses, Needham, Mass., Needham, 1959 Clarke, George K., History of Needham, Boston 1921 Material from the files of the Needham Historical Society Allen, Douglass & Douglass, Jr., N.C. Wyeth, New York, 1972 Intorviows with nomberg of the Wyeth femily 10.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Geographical Data AAREAHE Acreage of nominated property - 1.25 Quadrangle name Newton UMT References A[1,9/ Zone 3/1,7/7,4,0 Easting CLL 4/6/812170 Northing HILL E Uquadrangle scale areRE:25,000 G LiludLiliLiL Easting Northing DLLLLLLLLL LILL FLULLILI LILILIL HLULLILLILILIL Verbal boundary description and justification Northerly by South Street, 147.50 feet; Westerly, by land now or formerly of A. Newell Wyeth, 425.75 feet; Southerly by Charles River, 121 feet more or less; Easterly, by land now or formerly of Mary Winslow Crane, 454.94 feet. List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state NA code county code state code county code 11.

Form Prepared By name/title Wendy Frontiero, Preservation Planner, with the Needham Historical Commission organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date February 12, 1981 street & number 294 Washhington Street telephone 617-727-8470 Boston Massachusetts city or town state 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: : national state local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forthby the HeritageConservation and Recreation Service.

enLWeslowske State Historic Preservation Officer signature Executive Director title Massachusetts Historical Commission For HCRS use only I hereby certity that this property is included in the Nattoredgisthe deloud Dye National Register Keeper of the National Register date 2/7/82 date 4/1182 Attest: Chief of Registration date GPO 938 835 FHR--300 (11-76) United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form For HCRS use only received date entered 8 Continuation sheet Item number 2 A scene of the river at this place appears in N.C. Wyeth's painting "Charles River Scene" which hangs in the Needham Public Library, given to the Library's N.C.Wyeth Collection by Mrs. N.C. Wyeth.

Henriette, the daughter of Denys Zirngiebel, married Andrew Newel1 Wyeth, who in 1881 built a house next door at 192 South Street, on land given to him by his father-in-law, In this house four sons were born to the Andrew Wyeths, the oldest of whom was Newell Converse, later to be known simply as N.C. Wyeth, one of the country's most famous artist-illustrators and the founder of the Wyeth dynasty of artists. After the deathof Denys Zirngiebel in 1905 the house was owned and occupiedby his? son, Denys, Jr., until he sold it in 1921 to his nephew N.C. Wyeth. N.C. Wyeth had left Needham in 1902 to study under Howard Pyle in Chadds Ford, Pa. In-1921 he moved back to Needham with his young family, bought his grandfather's house, and built a studio on the land between the house and the river.

It was in this studio that he painted the 20-foot lunettes for the Missouri State House, the famous murals for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and many of his illustrations. The studio is now incorporated into the house at 150 South Street. The house itself appears in at least three of the artist's paintings. It appears in the background of "Paul Revere's Ride", an illustration for the Brander Matthews anthology, Poems of American Patriotism (Scribners, N.Y. 1922); and it appears in "Christmas Morning" , painted for the cover of the December, 1913 issue of "Scribners Magazine." The elderly gentleman who appears in this picture was his Grandfather Zirngiebel, and the small boy was his youngest brother, Stimson. The portico which frames the front door in these two pictures was later removed by the artist himself.

The house appears again, from a different viewpoint, in the painting "Portrait of My Mother." The scene of this picture is the kitchen of his father's house next door, and through the window can be seen the side of his grandfather's house. The smal1 bent figure which again appears in this view is again his grandfather. The barn, a corner of which appears in this picture, still stands. In 1924 N.C. Wyeth moved with his family back to Chadds Ford, and the house was occupied by his brother Stimson until it was sold again in 1931, this time to Lester and Hilda Bottomley, who lived in it until 1944. During these years a frequent visitor to the house was Mrs. Bottomley's cousin, the novelist Thomas The house was bought in 1962 by its present owners, Robert and Joan Dunkle, who have effectively restored it and added an ell to the reay and a studio to the old barn.

982 FHR-8-300 (11-78) United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service National Register of Historic Places nventory-Nomination Form For HCRS use only received MAR 3 date entered APR 8 Continuation sheet Item number Page 3 The Joshua Lewis House property may contain archaeological remains from both the prehistoric and historic periods. A number of prehistoric archaeological sites are known to exist along the Charles River settings of elevated level land similar to that of the Joshua Lewis House property. As such, prehistoric remains may be present on this site as well. Historic archaeological remains in the form of early domestic refuse and indicators of small structures, plantings and other ground disturbances known as features may also exist on the property.

Should they exist, these kinds of data can complement the above ground material culture in an inter- pretation of the cultural use of the landscape. 82 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES United States Department of the Interior National Park Service EVALUATION / RETURN SHEET Property: c Leis State, County:/hA House Federal Agency: Working No. 3/3/82-590 Fod. Reg. DatfiT82 2.1.83 Date Due:_ - 4/17/82 Action: ACCEPT_ 4/1/82 resubmission Intered the RETURN nomination by person or local governmentvational Reglater - REJECT- owner objection photos 2 appeal maps 1 Substantive Review: - sample - request - appeal - NR decision Reviower's comments: Recom. / Criteria Reviewer - Discipline Date - see continuation sheet -Nomination returned for: _ technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3.

Classification Catagory Ownership Public Acqutsition 4. Owner of Property Status Accessible Present Use 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys has this property been determined eligible?. -y9= - 7. Description Conditien _ excelient good fair _ deteriorated ruins unexposed Check ene unaitered altered Check one original site _moved date Beseribe the present and eriginai (if knewn) physical appoarence summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection 8. Significance Ported Aroes of Signittcance Chock and juetity bolow Spocie dates Statement el Significance (in ene peragraph) Bulider/Architee summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of excepticn other 9.

Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quedrangle name UMT Reterences Verbel boundery descriptien and justificatien 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evalueted significance of this property within the state is: national -state local Aate Historic Preservation Officer signature date 13.

Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Signed - Date - Phone: 202 272-3504 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet Joshua Lewis House Needham Norfolk County Massachusetts Photo Credit: Kenneth Watson Negative filed: Kenneth Watson Identification: North facade Date: 1980 MAR 3 1982 Joshua Lewis House Needham Norfolk County Massachusetts Photo Credit: Kenneth watson Negative filed Kenneth Watson Identification: West facade Date: 1980 MAR 3 1982 Name ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES STATE MASSACHUSETTS Date Entered APRIL 1, 1982 Location Melrose Town Center Historic District Melrose Middlesex County American Net and Iwine Company Factory (Cambridge Multiple Resource Area) Cambridge Middlesex County Townsend House Needham Norfolk County Lewis, Joshua, House Needham Norfolk County Notified Honorable Edward M.

Kennedy Honorable Paul E. Isongas Honorable Edward J. Markey Honorable Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Honorable John Joseph Moakley Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, NPS North Atlantic Regional Office, NPS State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L. Weslowski Executive Director, Massachusett's Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 - For further intormation, please call the National Register at (202) 272-3504