{"nrhp_refnum":"87001476","name":"Fuller, Robert, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3 Burrill Ln.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Needham","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.293703150000056,"lon":-71.25713778499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-09-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2 1/2-story, five-bay wood-frame farmhouse at 3 Burrill Lane, Needham, Massachusetts, built in 1707 by Captain Robert Fuller and moved 500 feet in 1735.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant under Criterion C as a First Period house that shows how colonial building practices evolved. It keeps its original 1707 double-cell, central-chimney form despite the 1750 lean-to and later ells. It is described as the oldest house in Needham and was home to the Fuller and Greenwood families, both prominent in the town.","narrative":"Built in 1707 by Captain Robert Fuller, this five-bay, 2 1/2-story clapboarded farmhouse at 3 Burrill Lane is the oldest house in Needham. In 1735, when his son Robert Jr. married, Fuller moved the house 500 feet along the lane, gave it to his son and built himself a new house on the original site. A lean-to was added around 1750, and shingled ells were added to the north and west in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The Fuller family kept the house until 1823, when it was auctioned to Abijah Greenwood, whose family held it until 1896. Its double-cell plan with central chimney and lobby entrance marks it as a First Period house, and a historian has described it as thoroughly worked over yet still recognizable. An 1861 painting by Timothy Newell Smith shows it much as it appears today. Early religious meetings were held here before Needham's meetinghouse was built.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"First Period","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in good condition, and used as a private residence; the barn that once stood across the lane has been demolished.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.91487-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/7962/63796254/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/87001476.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001476/5e54018e91-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001476/5e54018e91-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NeedhamMA_RobertFullerHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NeedhamMA_RobertFullerHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796254","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fuller_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715831"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/fuller-robert-house-87001476/"}