Stewardship property in Massachusetts has new owner
The Kingsbury-Whitaker House, a Stewardship Program property in Needham, Massachusetts, recently sold to new private owners. Constructed in several stages beginning c. 1710, with later alterations dating to the 1840s, 1870s, 1920s, and 1930s, the Kingsbury-Whitaker House retains key elements from each period of construction and thus is an important example of Colonial, Greek Revival, and Colonial Revival architecture.
The earliest section of the Kingsbury-Whitaker House was constructed by Timothy Kingsbury, Deacon of the First Parish Church, Needham's first town clerk, and a town selectman. The house remained in the Kingsbury family until 1839, when it was sold and significantly enlarged by Edgar Kimball Whitaker, a Boston merchant responsible for bringing the Charles River Railroad to Needham in 1853.
The Needham Historical Society Inc. (NHS) purchased the house in 1949 and opened it to the public as a historic house museum. In 2005, after acquiring another historic house in Needham with better public visibility and access, the NHS decided to de-accession the Kingsbury-Whitaker House, protecting its significant architectural features through a preservation easement.
Historic New England has worked with several non-profit organizations to responsibly sell historic properties when a historic house museum is not viable. After the House Museum: Returning Historic House Museums to Private Ownership, a program offered by Historic New England’s Stewardship Manager Caitlin Corkins, uses case studies of successful partnerships to explore this work.
