{"nrhp_refnum":"85002771","name":"Cohn, Arthur B., House","other_names":["Saint Francis Center"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1711 Rusk Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.754630561000056,"lon":-95.35719204399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story white frame Queen Anne-style house at 1711 Rusk Avenue in Houston, Harris County, Texas, built in 1905 for Arthur Benjamin Cohn. It is later known as St. Francis Center.","why_significant":"The nomination ties the house to Arthur B. Cohn, the first business manager of Rice University, who lived there during the university's formative years from 1905 to 1912. It is also presented as the last of many turn-of-the-century middle-class houses once in the neighborhood, with fine details such as cast-stone rustication and cut and beveled glass.","narrative":"This two-story white frame house at 1711 Rusk Avenue in Houston was built in 1905 for Arthur Benjamin Cohn. Designed in a late Queen Anne style with classical touches, it has a first floor clad in wooden blocks cut to resemble stone, cast-stone piers, wide bracketed eaves, and an irregular pitched roof. The double front doors, side lights and transom carry an intricate cut and beveled glass pattern. A small rear kitchen wing may predate the main house and may relate to an 1860s house built by Winnifred Browne on or near the site. Cohn was William Marsh Rice's Houston bookkeeper, helped establish the Rice Institute, and served as its first business manager. He lived here between 1905 and 1909, and it is the only one of his residences still standing. The house was later divided into rented rooms, then purchased in 1964 by a Catholic charitable group, which refurbished it. The builder and architect are unknown.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1905)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Queen Anne with some classical detail","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and maintained in good condition by its current owners, a religious charitable group; refurbished in 1964.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.426979-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/12/9724/40972412/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/85002771.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002771/abd71bc203-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002771/abd71bc203-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arthur_B._Cohn_House_(HDR).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arthur_B._Cohn_House_(HDR).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972412","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_B._Cohn_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60750979"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/cohn-arthur-b-house-85002771/"}