Sumner and Gibbs Streets Historic District

Newton Centre is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The main commercial center of Newton Centre is a triangular area surrounding the intersections of Beacon Street, Centre Street, and Langley Road. It is the largest downtown area among all the villages of Newton, and serves as a large upscale shopping destination for the western suburbs of Boston. The Newton City Hall and War Memorial is located at 1000 Commonwealth Avenue, and the Newton Free Library is located at 330 Homer Street in Newton Centre. The Newton Centre station of the MBTA Green Line "D" branch is located on Union Street. The Crystal Lake and Pleasant Street Historic District is roughly bounded by the Sudbury Aqueduct, Pleasant Avenue, Lake Avenue, and Crystal Street and Webster Court. This area and its surrounding neighborhoods exemplify the distinct styles of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Crystal Lake, a 33-acre natural lake, is a popular swimming spot for locals in the area.

Piccadilly Square is an open-air shopping area located in the Union Street Historic District in the Newton Centre village of Newton, Massachusetts. Opened in 1973, it contains 40 stores and 84,777 sq ft (7,876.0 m2) of retail space.

Newton Centre station is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located in the Newton Centre village of Newton, Massachusetts. A former commuter rail station, it was converted for light rail use and reopened on July 4, 1959, along with the rest of the line. The 1891-built station and express office are part of the Newton Railroad Stations Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The Jonas Salisbury House is a historic house at 85 Langley Road in Newton, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story Greek Revival house was built in 1847, and is particularly significant because its original construction contract has survived. The house was built by Henry Fuller for Jonas Salisbury, a local landowner, at a cost of $2,630. Salisbury sold the house in 1853 for $4,000; it is unclear whether he ever lived in the house.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The Union Street Historic District is a historic district on Union Street between Langley Road and Herrick Road, and at 17–31 Herrick Road in Newton, Massachusetts. It encompasses the city's only significant cluster of 19th century commercial buildings. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.Development in the Newton Centre area did not begin until the arrival of the railroad in the late 1880s, and the construction in 1890 of the railroad station that served the village. The district includes five buildings: three commercial buildings that line the north side of Union Street, the railroad station, and an apartment block on Herrick Street.The Newton Centre Station (no longer formally affiliated with the railroad line, which now serves the MBTA Green Line D branch) was designed by H. H. Richardson and completed after his death by his successor firm, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. It has typical Richardsonian Romanesque styling, with brownstone and granite construction, and an overhanging slate roof with arched eyebrow dormer windows. The station and an adjacent freight and baggage house were listed on the National Register as part of a district of surviving Richardson railroad stations in Newton; the freight building was mostly demolished in 1985, with parts of the original building being incorporated into new construction on the site, and original landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers also does not survive.The Bray building at 93–105 is the other major building on Union Street. This 2-1/2 story Classical Revival building is built out of buff-colored brick, with a copper-clad hip roof, and a modillioned cornice. Arched windows in the attic are also lined with copper. It was built in 1893 for Mellen Bray, who also built the apartment block at 17–31 Herrick Street.The Union building at 65–73 Union Street was built in 1896. Georgian Revival in style, it has seven bays with storefronts on the ground level, and an entranceway recessed behind an arch flanked by brick pilasters. It also has a modillioned cornice, with dentil moulding.

The Adams Claflin House is a historic house at 156 Grant Avenue in the village of Newton Centre in Newton, Massachusetts. It is a large 2+1⁄2-story cross-gable wood-frame structure, built in the Shingle style to a design by Samuel Brown for Adams Davenport Claflin. Claflin was the son of Massachusetts Governor and Newtonville resident William Claflin, and was a major landowner in Newtonville as well as president of the Boston and Suburban Electric Company. Claflin was a major developer of the streetcar system that served Newton. Architecturally, the house shows vestiges of the Queen Anne style, with its asymmetrical massing and wealth of projections and gables, as well as elements of the Colonial Revival, exemplified by a Palladian window, and by the pedimented front porch. The house is one of several designed by Brown for the Claflin family.On September 4, 1986, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The William L. Church House is a historic house at 145 Warren Street in Newton, Massachusetts. The 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built in 1916, and is one of Newton's finest Bungalow-style homes. It has a tiled hip roof with wide eaves supported by brackets, and there are projecting window bays. The entrance porch also features large brackets, and its posts are set on brick piers. Some of the windows have colored glass panes in the transoms. The house's owner, William Church, was a hydraulic and mechanical engineer. The house was custom built for his niece, pianist Dai Buell and was known as the "Aloha Bungalow". The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The Newton Centre Branch Library is a historic library building at 1294 Centre Street in Newton, Massachusetts. The building now houses municipal offices. (A new library building opened near city hall in 1991.) The 1+1⁄2-story brick building was designed by Newton resident James Ritchie of Ritchie, Parsons & Tyler, and was built in 1928. It was one of five branch libraries paid for by subscription of Newton citizens and built between 1926 and 1939. The building is basically Tudor Revival in its styling, although its entry has a Colonial Revival segmented arch surround.The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The Commonwealth Avenue Historic District of Newton, Massachusetts, encompasses roughly the eastern half of Commonwealth Avenue, extending from Waban Hill Road, near the city line with Boston, westward to Walnut Street. The roadway was laid out in 1894 and completed in 1895. Its design was influenced in part by the local residents, who were willing to give land for some of the route, and the design of Boston portions of the road, in which Frederick Law Olmsted was involved. Construction of the roadway was followed by the construction of fashionably large residences along its route, which took place mostly between the road's construction and about 1920. The district includes 188 residential properties, which are mainly built in the revival styles popular in the early 20th century. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The Jos. Gunderson House is a historic house at 983 Centre Street in Newton, Massachusetts. The two story wood-frame house was built c. 1850, and is an extremely rare example of a Regency variant of Greek Revival styling. This particular type of styling was rarely built outside Boston, and is one of only two known in Newton. The front facade consists of recessed panels, which alternate with projecting sections to emulate the appearance of pilasters that lack a typical capital element. The second story windows have wrought iron railings, also a Regency feature.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The First Baptist Church in Newton was founded in 1788. Its historic building (built 1888) is located at 848 Beacon Street in the village of Newton Centre, in Newton, Massachusetts. On April 15, 1982, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Gray Cliff Historic District is a residential historic district encompassing a cluster of exceptionally high quality houses built in Newton, Massachusetts, between about 1890 and 1940. When first listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, it included only the eight houses at 35 (destroyed by fire in July 2022), 39, 43, 53, 54, 64, 65, and 70 Gray Cliff Road, which were predominantly Shingle style house built before the turn of the 20th century. The district was expanded in 1990 to include an adjacent area known as The Ledges, where the houses were built between 1900 and 1940, and are mainly Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival in their styling.The Gray Cliff area was the estate of Massachusetts politician Robert Bishop before it was subdivided for development. The construction of Commonwealth Avenue increased development pressure, and his was one of many estates that was subdivided. The houses are large, and sited on well-proportioned lots that take advantage of the topography of the area, which features rocky outcrops and ledges. It is possible that the subdivision was laid out by a draftsman who once worked for Frederick Law Olmsted. The house at 53 Gray Cliff Road is one of Newton's finest Shingle style houses.The area of The Ledges was laid out between 1906 and 1912, and includes the original Bishop House at 40 The Ledges Road. This house was originally built in 1861, probably with Italianate styling, but was completely enlarged in the 1890s and restyled in the Colonial Revival style. Two of the houses in this area include two that were designed by architects for their own use: James Ritchie designed the Tudor style house at 10 The Ledges Road, and Henry J. Carlson designed the Colonial Revival house at 91 Bishopsgate Road for his own use; he also designed 131 Bishopsgate Road.