{"nrhp_refnum":"93000118","name":"Banker, Willie, Jr., House","other_names":["Site No. 753"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 N. Rusk","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wharton","county":"Wharton County","state":"TX","lat":29.31334043800007,"lon":-96.08740422999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-03-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1-story brick veneer house at 401 North Rusk in Wharton, Wharton County, Texas, built in 1929 with Mission style influences. It has a detached brick garage apartment and a modern frame garage.","why_significant":"The nomination finds it significant under Criterion C for architecture as a noteworthy local interpretation of the Mission style, which became popular in Wharton in the late 1920s and 1930s. Its arched inset porch and terra cotta tile roof are characteristic of the style, and it retains a high degree of integrity. It is tied to the context of community development in Wharton, 1875-1942.","narrative":"Built in 1929 at 401 North Rusk in Wharton, this one-story brick veneer house shows an eclectic design influenced by the Mission style. Its asymmetrical plan is topped by a steeply pitched cross-gabled roof of terra cotta tiles, which sweeps down over a multi-bay inset porch with rounded and elliptical arches. A brick balustrade wraps the east and south sides, and a gabled end on the south helps form a small courtyard. Windows are wooden double-hung sash in single, paired and tripled groupings. On the property stands a contemporary brick garage apartment, counted as contributing, along with a modern frame garage that is not. Willie Banker Jr., a Wharton County cattle rancher, bought the lot from Maggie Heartt in 1929 for $5,500, and Sanborn maps show the house under construction that year. It stayed in the Banker family until 1977. It was listed for its architecture, as a well-preserved local example of the Mission style that became popular in Wharton in the late 1920s and 1930s.","period_of_significance":"1929","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"19th and 20th Century Revivals: Mission","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; retains a high degree of integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.221042-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/34/9707/40970734/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/93000118.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000118/f007d7c7e7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000118/f007d7c7e7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willie_Banker_Jr._House,_Wharton,_TX.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willie_Banker_Jr._House,_Wharton,_TX.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40970734","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002553"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/wharton-county/banker-willie-jr-house-93000118/"}