{"nrhp_refnum":"05000383","name":"O'Bryne, John and Eva, House","other_names":["O'Byrne's Mill","O'Byrne's Switch"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"FM 1844, 0.7 mi. E of US 271","address_restricted":false,"city":"Union Grove","county":"Upshur County","state":"TX","lat":32.584317146000046,"lon":-94.91027498299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story wood-frame house built in 1888 on just under five acres east of Union Grove, Upshur County, Texas, with a barn, well and sandstone terracing. It was designed and built by sawmill owner John O'Byrne.","why_significant":"The house is argued to be a well-preserved, increasingly rare example of a large handcrafted three-story center-passage house in East Texas, built from timber cut and milled on site (Criterion C). It is also tied to John O'Byrne and the early settlement of Union Grove through his sawmill, school and chapel (Criterion B).","narrative":"Built in 1888 east of Union Grove in Upshur County, Texas, this three-story frame house was designed and built by Irish-born sawmill owner John O'Byrne for his family of thirteen children. Every timber came from his own mill. The house has a wide central hall, full-width porches on two levels, a rear wing over a stone-capped basement, pine board-on-board interior walls and hand-sawn walnut stair and mantel trim. Terraced rock walls, sandstone walks, a barn and a stone-lined well complete the property. The nomination argues that it is a rare, little-altered example of a large handcrafted center-passage house in East Texas, where many similar frame dwellings have been changed or lost. It also recognizes O'Byrne's role in local settlement: his mill, which ran from 1885 to 1907, employed many workers, and he supplied land and materials for the first area school and a Catholic chapel. Family restoration around 1935 and later repairs kept the original character.","period_of_significance":"1888 - 1935","architect_builder":"O'Byrne, John","architectural_style":"Late 19th Century/OTHER/center hall plan","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Currently used as a single dwelling with a secondary structure and landscape; repairs and restoration since 1999 have kept its historic appearance.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.204354-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/9738/40973857/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/05000383.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000383/d792fe09a1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000383/d792fe09a1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tom Reedy","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_and_Eva_O%27Bryne_House_right_side.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Tom Reedy</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_and_Eva_O%27Bryne_House_right_side.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973857","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002620"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/upshur-county/obryne-john-and-eva-house-05000383/"}