{"nrhp_refnum":"90001890","name":"First Christian Church Parsonage","other_names":["#28"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"608 N. Penelope St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belton","county":"Bell County","state":"TX","lat":31.062638224000068,"lon":-97.45937675099998,"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 one-story brick house at 608 North Penelope in Belton, Bell County, Texas, built in 1900 by the Belton First Christian Church to serve as its parsonage.","why_significant":"The house is argued to be significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture because it typifies the evolution of popular house forms from the L-plan vernacular house toward the bungalow. It also reflects the growth of social and religious institutions in Belton during the cotton boom around 1900. Its brick construction is unusual for a pyramidal-roofed cottage, since most were frame.","narrative":"Built in 1900 at 608 North Penelope in Belton, this one-story brick house was constructed by the Belton First Christian Church as a parsonage, a role it served until the church sold it in 1943. It follows a modified L plan, with a central pyramidal roof block crossed by gable-roofed wings, and a porch with turned wooden columns wraps around the central block. Segmental arched windows, a brick string course with hood molding, and fancy butt shingles in the gables combine Italianate, Queen Anne and Eastlake elements without fitting a single style. A limestone hitching post stands beside the entry walk. The house matters locally as an example of late Victorian domestic design showing the shift from L-plan houses toward the bungalow. Pyramidal-roofed cottages were common in Belton around the turn of the century, but brick examples were rare, as most were frame. It also reflects the cotton boom years, when churches and other institutions were being established in the town.","period_of_significance":"1900","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate; Queen Anne","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; a rear wood frame addition exists and a small rear outbuilding is noncontributing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.265678-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/39/9682/40968239/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/90001890.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001890/a4235b054f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001890/a4235b054f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_christian_church_parsonage.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:First_christian_church_parsonage.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968239","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Christian_Church_Parsonage","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452648"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bell-county/first-christian-church-parsonage-90001890/"}