Historic Preservation
Currently, the only long-term possibility to save a property is to request that it be Landmarked by the Newton Historical Commission (NHC). Properties are Landmarked primarily because of their unique age, history, and/or design. But landmarking isn’t just about saving old buildings. As stewards of our history, we Landmark properties to ensure that future generations see and learn how our forebearers lived.
Historic Preservation, generally, is woefully inadequate in Newton.
The Landmarking process, intended to “provide the highest level of protection for properties determined to be the most architecturally or historically significant in the city,” fails frequently.
Newton has chosen to Landmark only some 30 buildings (of 34,000 properties).
The process has proved very difficult to undertake, often because preserving a property conflicts with “other City priorities.”
Landmarking a property should be undertaken simply and fully on the basis of whether it meets Landmarking objectives.
What We’ve Lost
1744 - 2021
2021 - Present
Historic Preservation at its Worst: As an example, Ward 8 has been battered for over 2 years by the conflict between the NHC and a developer who contracted to “restore” the Landmark farmhouse at 29 Greenwood Street (the 277-year-old Gershom Hyde homestead), and then, without permission, destroyed 70% within a few weeks.
I organized over 800 city residents to implore the NHC to deny the developer any right to proceed after breaking his contract. After 2 years and 2 denials by the NHC, the developer, in November, 2022 commenced suing the City in Middlesex Superior Court for the right to proceed. The matter has not yet been resolved and is presumed to take as much as another 2-3 years.
This two-year-old tragedy must end.
I believe that the City must immediately demand payment of the more than $230,000 in fines ($300/day) the developer owes today.
The developer could have restored the building, but he destroyed it. After being denied twice by NHC, the developer took the City to court, creating a very expensive suit paid for with our taxes.
The remains of the home rot on the property and are a blight to our neighborhood. The City should stop litigation and take the property by eminent domain for the “greater good.”