{"nrhp_refnum":"78002982","name":"Benton, M. A., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1730 6th Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fort Worth","county":"Tarrant County","state":"TX","lat":32.72549920900008,"lon":-97.34041640399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Education","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1 1/2-story frame Victorian residence at 1730 Sixth Avenue, Fort Worth, Texas, on a half-acre corner lot. It was probably built around 1898 for Meredith Azro Benton and his wife, with construction overseen by his father, builder William Azro Benton.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a good example of late Victorian architecture with elaborate gingerbread detailing, twelve-foot ceilings and bevelled glass doors, and notes it is in excellent condition with few alterations. It is also tied to the Bentons: M. A. Benton was a tobacco company businessman, and Ella Belle Benton promoted kindergartens, school hot lunches and Fort Worth's first garden club.","narrative":"Built around 1898 on what was then open prairie in Fort Worth's South Side, this 1 1/2-story frame Victorian house at Sixth Avenue and Park Place has a hipped roof, projecting pavilions and a wrap-around gallery with turned columns and hand-sawn gingerbread trim. Inside, a central hall plan has twelve-foot ceilings, pocket doors, transoms over every doorway and original hardware. Meredith Azro Benton, a traveling tobacco company representative, and his wife Ella Belle built it with help from his father, William Azro Benton, a Kansas City builder who oversaw construction. Ella Belle Benton worked to establish public school kindergartens and hot lunches and helped organize the city's first garden club, the Rose Society. Her support also turned the former servants' quarters into a neighborhood Sunday School around 1906-08. The house remained in the family and was kept in excellent condition, retaining much original furniture and its white picket fence.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"William Azro Benton","architectural_style":"Late Victorian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition with very few alterations, maintained by the original owners' heirs and occupied by lessees at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.188104-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/9734/40973470/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/78002982.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002982/012d9f2396-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002982/012d9f2396-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BentonHouse2_(1_of_1).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Renelibrary</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:BentonHouse2_(1_of_1).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"90000490","name":"Fairmount-Southside Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/fairmount-southside-historic-district-90000490/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973470","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._A._Benton_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6712328"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/tarrant-county/benton-m-a-house-78002982/"}