{"nrhp_refnum":"02000823","name":"Perkins, James I. and Myrta Blake, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"303 E. 5th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rusk","county":"Cherokee County","state":"TX","lat":31.79504103100004,"lon":-95.14773396499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-07-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A private single-family house at 303 East 5th Street in Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas, built in two phases: a Greek Revival dwelling before September 1851 and a two-story Queen Anne wing added in 1883.","why_significant":"The house is significant under Criterion C at the local level for its unusual combination of pioneer-era Greek Revival form with late 19th-century Queen Anne styling. It is the only known dwelling in Rusk to show this combination. Later changes document about 100 years of shifting family needs, tastes and technology.","narrative":"Located at the east edge of central Rusk, two blocks from the Cherokee County courthouse, this house combines two building periods. Local attorney James N. Thomas built the original one-story, three-room Greek Revival dwelling before September 1851. In 1883 James I. Perkins and his wife Myrta Blake Perkins bought the property and hired Nacogdoches architect Dietrich A.W. Rulfs, who added a two-story Queen Anne wing and reworked the older section to harmonize with it. Both parts are built of pine. Later changes include a porte cochere, two bathrooms, servants' quarters, a rear bedroom and an enclosed rear porch. A brick well with a pyramidal roof, a shop and cooling cellar, and two low stone walls also remain. The house is regarded as locally significant because it is the only known dwelling in Rusk to blend pioneer Greek Revival form with late Victorian Queen Anne styling, and because its alterations record roughly a century of family and architectural change.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Dietrich A.W. Rulfs (Nacogdoches architect, 1883 addition); James N. Thomas (original house, ca. 1851)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Queen Anne (with Greek Revival original section)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"No longer occupied as a residence; furnished as a residence and used for community and family functions. Exterior repainted and in good condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.881553-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/9715/40971502/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/02000823.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000823/14abda681a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000823/14abda681a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ M.D.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JAMES_I._AND_MYRTA_BLAKE_PERKINS_HOUSE,_RUSK,_CHEROKEE_COUNTY,_TX.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ M.D.</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JAMES_I._AND_MYRTA_BLAKE_PERKINS_HOUSE,_RUSK,_CHEROKEE_COUNTY,_TX.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971502","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001757"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/cherokee-county/perkins-james-i-and-myrta-blake-house-02000823/"}