{"nrhp_refnum":"88003127","name":"McIntosh Corner Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly Great Plain and Central Aves.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Needham","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.28363850000005,"lon":-71.25311087319841,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-01-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eleven-acre historic district at the intersection of Great Plain and Central Avenues in Needham, Massachusetts, made up mainly of houses built between 1794 and 1915, plus outbuildings and a small park.","why_significant":"The district is a good example of an early Needham town center that grew up around two important transportation routes. It preserves a cohesive group of 19th-century dwellings, some of which also housed shops, a post office and cottage industries. It is significant locally for architecture and for community planning and development.","narrative":"McIntosh Corner is an eleven-acre cluster of mostly residential buildings at the crossing of Great Plain and Central Avenues in Needham, Massachusetts. The oldest surviving house dates from 1794, and most others are five-bay, two-and-one-half-story wooden dwellings with Federal or Greek Revival detail. Later Italianate, Colonial Revival and bungalow-style buildings extend the story to 1914. In the early 1800s the corner served as Needham's town center, anchored by the McIntosh Tavern, a stagecoach stop built in 1810 that burned in 1844. Houses here also held stores, a post office and small home industries such as glue making and dressmaking. After the railroad bypassed the corner in 1853, commerce shifted to Needham Village and the area became a residential suburb. The district includes fifteen contributing buildings and Noyes Park, created in 1913. It was recognized for its architecture and for what it shows about the growth of a transportation-based community.","period_of_significance":"1794-1914","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Colonial Revival and Bungalow (vernacular forms)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"All contributing buildings keep their original residential function; one modern brick church and several modern houses are non-contributing. Some houses have been altered with vinyl siding, porches and additions.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.548354-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/7962/63796266/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/88003127.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88003127/fd12f9319c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88003127/fd12f9319c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daniel_Kingsbury_House,_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:Daniel_Kingsbury_House,_Needham_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796266","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_Corner_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6801629"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/mcintosh-corner-historic-district-88003127/"}