Historical Commission preserves 14 Heckle Street, delays Emerson Road waiver

WELLESLEY -- May 12, 2026, Wellesley Historical Commission preserves 14 Heckle Street and sends Emerson Road redesign back for more work. The commission voted 7-0 Tuesday to deem the circa-1910 American Foursquare at 14 Heckle Street preferably preserved under Standard 2, imposing a 12-month demolition delay on a house tied to poet Ramona Graham Cook and civil rights letter-writer Margaret Robinson. Attorney David Himmelberger, representing the applicant, declined to contest the staff recommendation, saying he "can't truly argue against it being deemed preferably preserved" in the context of the streetscape. The commission then continued, also 7-0, a waiver application for a new home at 39 Emerson Road in Poets Corner after member Elizabeth Cahill objected that the proposed front-facing two-car garage was "dominant" rather than the "saddlebag" garages typical of neighboring homes. The revised design reduced the ridge to 185.64 feet, still about four and a half feet taller than the existing house. Chair Michael Racette said the garage and main volume read as "equal partners," and the hearing was continued to June.