Keene, Walter, House
Why it's listed
Set on the slope of Farm Hill in Stoneham, this house at 28 High Street was built around the turn of the twentieth century for Walter S. Keene. It mixes two styles: Colonial Revival features such as a rectangular plan, hipped roof, balustraded entry porch and modified Palladian window, and Queen Anne touches such as combined shingle and clapboard walls and a corner tower with a one-story porch. Keene, born in Palmyra, Maine in 1858, came to Stoneham in 1882, worked as a salesman for a Boston leather company, and helped found two local banks. He also developed the area around Keene Street and High Street, dividing roughly a dozen regular lots rather than using the irregular lots and winding streets typical of suburban subdividers of the period. The house illustrates the suburban growth of the 1880s and 1890s, when fashionable residences lined wide, tree-shaded streets. It retains its original barn and has had no major alterations.
Significance in brief: The nomination calls it a good local example of the transitional Queen Anne/Colonial Revival style. It is also associated with Walter Keene, a prominent businessman and real estate developer who laid out the Keene Street and High Street area. It is said to retain integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 84002719, listed April 13, 1984. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 28 High St., Stoneham |
|---|---|
| County | Middlesex County |
| Listed | April 13, 1984 |
| Reference number | 84002719 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Queen Anne/Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed as a present residence; the form reports no major alterations and says the original barn survives. |
| Acreage | 0.6 |
| Coordinates | 42.48995, -71.09518 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 84002719.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7965326
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.