{"nrhp_refnum":"80004123","name":"Foster House","other_names":["Foster - Wier House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Navasota on TX 90","address_restricted":false,"city":"Navasota","county":"Grimes County","state":"TX","lat":30.409377780000057,"lon":-96.05016641099996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-one-half story frame Greek Revival house built in 1859 on about 5 acres roughly two miles east of Navasota on State Highway 90 in Grimes County, Texas, with the remains of a cotton gin and an underground cistern.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a good example of vernacular nineteenth-century Texas Greek Revival architecture. It combines a climate-suited central hallway plan with classical exterior detailing. A 1936 Historic American Buildings Survey recorder called it one of the best early residential examples in Texas following Virginia and Atlantic seaboard models.","narrative":"Built in 1859 about two miles east of Navasota, this one-and-one-half story frame house is a vernacular example of Texas Greek Revival design. It sits on piers with a cellar, three sandstone chimneys, a six-column front porch and a wide central hallway that takes advantage of northwest breezes in the humid climate. Ira Malcolm Camp, who came to Texas from Georgia, built it for his daughter, who married Sheriff Jeff Gibbs, the first Republican sheriff elected in Grimes County. In 1883 R. B. S. Foster bought the house with 200 acres, and his family lived there for years. The property once formed a farm complex with a cotton gin, creamery, carriage house, slave houses and a commissary. Today the stone base of the gin and underground cisterns remain. A 1936 surveyor described the house as among the best early residential work he had found in Texas, comparable to buildings in Virginia and other Atlantic seaboard states. It was rehabilitated in 1971.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown (built by Ira Malcolm Camp, per the statement of significance)","architectural_style":"Vernacular Texas Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition, rehabilitated in 1971, and occupied as a private residence; the cotton gin survives only as ruins.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.771609-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/9721/40972198/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/80004123.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004123/90e2d87eab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004123/90e2d87eab-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foster_house_2008.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foster_house_2008.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972198","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002083"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/grimes-county/foster-house-80004123/"}