{"nrhp_refnum":"90001884","name":"McWhirter, George and Martha, House","other_names":["#19"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"400 N. Pearl St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belton","county":"Bell County","state":"TX","lat":31.06016515600004,"lon":-97.46381815399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-12-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1 1/2-story limestone house in the Second Empire style at 400 North Pearl in Belton, Bell County, Texas, built in the late 1860s or early 1870s for George and Martha McWhirter.","why_significant":"It is an early and well-preserved Belton example of the Second Empire style, a style rare in Texas for the years just after the Civil War. It is also tied to Martha McWhirter, founder of the Sanctificationists, a communal religious sect, and served as a worship center and meeting place for the movement.","narrative":"Built in the late 1860s or early 1870s, this limestone house at 400 North Pearl in Belton was home to George and Martha McWhirter. It is a 1 1/2-story building of rough ashlar limestone with finer limestone lintels and sills, a T-shaped plan, and a wood-shingled mansard roof with three gabled dormers. A large wooden portico with plain rectangular columns and arched spandrels marks the front. The house is considered one of the best preserved early examples of the Second Empire style in Texas, a style that was popular in the state in the 1870s and 1880s but rarely appeared right after the Civil War. The property is also linked to Martha McWhirter, who in the 1870s founded the Sanctificationists, a dissident communal religious sect. The house served as a worship center and meeting place for its members. She sold it in the 1890s and moved to Washington, D.C., with other sect members. The house remains a private residence in very good condition.","period_of_significance":"est. 1870 - 1895","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Described as in very good condition with minimal exterior alterations; still used as a single dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.731165-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/3/9683/40968303/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/90001884.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001884/8d2ee57d18-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001884/8d2ee57d18-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mcwhirter_house_2009.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:Mcwhirter_house_2009.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968303","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001550"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bell-county/mcwhirter-george-and-martha-house-90001884/"}