{"nrhp_refnum":"86002500","name":"Meredith-McDowal House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"701 N. Gaines","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ennis","county":"Ellis County","state":"TX","lat":32.33028949000004,"lon":-96.63521294299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-09-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story frame Victorian dwelling at 701 N. Gaines in Ennis, Ellis County, Texas, built in 1898 with a modified L-plan. Architect/builder Hix McCanless designed it for E.C. and Connie Meredith.","why_significant":"The inventory form calls it one of the most successfully rendered and intact examples of a modified L-plan Victorian dwelling, the most common regional plan type of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It also shows that Hix McCanless, best known for bungalows, worked with local building traditions in his earliest designs.","narrative":"This one-story frame house at 701 N. Gaines in Ennis, Texas, dates to 1898 and follows a modified L-plan. It was built for E.C. and Connie Meredith and designed by Hix McCanless. The house has weatherboard siding, a hip roof with gables, jig-sawn brackets, and wood double-hung windows with one-over-one lights. A seven-bay hip-roofed porch with turned wood posts wraps around the south and east sides. Intersecting hipped and gabled roofs create a picturesque composition, and imbricated shingles add decoration. The nomination describes it as one of the most successfully rendered and intact examples of a modified L-plan Victorian dwelling, a common regional type of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. McCanless is better known for bungalows, and this house shows his early work drew on local building traditions. The house has been moved to a residential area northwest of the central business district. It remained in good condition and residential use, and the McDowal family has owned it since 1919. It was included in a multiple-resource listing of Ennis historic properties.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Hix McCanless","architectural_style":"Modified L-plan (Victorian)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition; present use residential. Owned by the R.T. McDowal family since 1919.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.808121-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/9690/40969030/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/86002500.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969030","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110000583"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/ellis-county/meredith-mcdowal-house-86002500/"}