When the owner of this stately Colonial home in Needham decided she wanted a reading nook all her own, she chose the big, empty landing at the stop of the stairs. “It has a little balcony that ...

The home is 6,500 square feet — roughly 2,500 square feet bigger than when the owners bought it 20 years ago, they said.

The house, unsurprisingly, came with its own history. The Italianate-style mansion—with its soaring ceilings, deep porches, ...