{"nrhp_refnum":"87001393","name":"Grover, Emery, Building","other_names":["Needham High School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1330 Highland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Needham","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.28313760700007,"lon":-71.23565801399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-08-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story yellow brick former high school at 1330 Highland Avenue in Needham, Massachusetts, built in 1898 and designed by Boston architects Whitman and Hood.","why_significant":"The building was Needham's first high school and is tied to the long rivalry between the villages of Highlandville and Needham Plains over where it should stand. It is also an imposing local example of the Second Renaissance Revival style. It is significant at the local level under Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1898 at 1330 Highland Avenue, this yellow brick building served as Needham's first high school. Designed by Boston architects Whitman and Hood, it rises two stories above a raised granite basement beneath a hipped slate roof, and its Second Renaissance Revival design features a projecting central pavilion, arched windows, keystones and strong horizontal belt courses. Its siting came only after a decades-long dispute between the villages of Highlandville and Needham Plains, which involved two building committees, a court injunction and a land donation by John Moseley. A critical 47-page minority report followed its completion, though the majority report praised it as economical at $32,923. The school held all high school activities until 1924, when a larger building replaced it. It was then renamed for Judge Emery Grover, a school committee member from 1884 to 1904. Since about 1972 it has housed school department offices. It was listed for its architecture and for its role in the town's development and education history.","period_of_significance":"1898-1924","architect_builder":"Whitman and Hood, Boston, Massachusetts","architectural_style":"Second Renaissance Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Used for school department administrative offices since about 1972; interior altered with temporary partitions around 1972.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.240158-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/84/7962/63796284/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/87001393.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001393/0f15eb57a7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001393/0f15eb57a7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emery_Grover_Building,_Needham_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emery_Grover_Building,_Needham_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796284","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emery_Grover_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5370987"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/grover-emery-building-87001393/"}