{"nrhp_refnum":"86002453","name":"Solon, John, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"617 Solon Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waxahachie","county":"Ellis County","state":"TX","lat":32.390652817000046,"lon":-96.85365882399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-09-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story load-bearing stone dwelling at 617 Solon Road in Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas, built in 1894 by stone mason John Solon as his own home. The nominated complex also includes a first dwelling, outbuildings and historic landscape features.","why_significant":"The house is regarded as one of Waxahachie's most architecturally noteworthy buildings and one of the few stone-built structures in the area. It shows Romanesque stylistic influence, which is unusual for a rural residence in Texas. It also reflects the craftsmanship of John Solon, an Irish immigrant stone mason.","narrative":"Built in 1894, this two-story stone house at 617 Solon Road in Waxahachie was the home of its builder, John Solon, an Irish immigrant stone mason. Solon erected many stone buildings in downtown Waxahachie, including the 1874 courthouse, which no longer stands. His own house has a hip roof with gables, turned wood porch posts, corbeled stone caps, a horseshoe-arched window, arched sandstone window surrounds, jig-sawn bargeboard and finials along the ridgeline. Its Romanesque influence is unusual for a rural residence, since that style and its materials were more often used for city commercial and institutional buildings in Texas. The property was listed for the quality of its craftsmanship and as one of the few stone structures in the area. The grounds hold a small first dwelling, said to date from the 1880s and to have sheltered Solon during construction, along with early twentieth-century board-and-batten outbuildings and historic landscape features.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Builder--John Solon","architectural_style":"Romanesque stylistic influence","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Condition is listed as excellent, and the house is in residential use. The first dwelling is used for storage, and the outbuildings remain functional.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.473274-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/68/9690/40969068/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/86002453.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"86002474","name":"West End Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/west-end-historic-district-86002474/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969068","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001973"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/ellis-county/solon-john-house-86002453/"}