{"nrhp_refnum":"90001885","name":"Ware, H. A. and Helena, House","other_names":["#20"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 N. Pearl St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belton","county":"Bell County","state":"TX","lat":31.05979936800003,"lon":-97.46340483099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-12-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2-story, L-plan frame house at 401 North Pearl in Belton, Bell County, Texas, built about 1895 for H. A. and Helena A. Ware. It is detailed in the Eastlake and Italianate styles.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a well-preserved example of a popular late Victorian house type, significant in architecture under Criterion C. It shows how local builders applied fashionable decorative details to a standard vernacular L-plan. It also relates to Belton's growth during the cotton boom years around the turn of the century.","narrative":"Built about 1895 at 401 North Pearl in Belton, this two-story frame house follows a vernacular L-plan but is richly decorated in the Eastlake and Italianate styles. Its hipped-and-gabled roof, projecting bracketed bays, ornate bargeboards, dentil trim, turned porch columns, spindle fretwork and perimeter stained-glass window panes make it a catalogue of late nineteenth-century ornament. It was built for H. A. and Helena Ware; Ware was a prominent banker and a major stockholder in the Belton Water Company. The house was among the first in town served by electricity. Over the years it housed students of Baylor College for Women and, during World War II, was remodeled into apartments for families from nearby Fort Hood. Although the interior has been partly modernized, most original woodwork survives. The house was listed for its architecture, as a well-preserved example of a decorated L-plan house, a type once common in Texas but rarely surviving with its details intact.","period_of_significance":"c. 1895","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Queen Anne-Eastlake; Italianate","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling. The interior is partially modernized, but most original woodwork is intact and the house is described as well preserved.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.91804-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/63/9682/40968263/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/90001885.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968263","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110000867"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bell-county/ware-h-a-and-helena-house-90001885/"}