{"nrhp_refnum":"99000610","name":"Kirby-Hill House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"210 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kountze","county":"Hardin County","state":"TX","lat":30.370231855000043,"lon":-94.31536023299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-05-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood-frame house built in 1902 at 210 Main Street in Kountze, Hardin County, Texas, on about 2.3 acres. It was built by contractor Frank T. Smith of Beaumont for a lumber company executive.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is an excellent local example of a large frame house that combines Colonial Revival and Queen Anne elements, with a two-story wrapped porch and cypress columns. It retains a high degree of integrity. It also served as the social center of the east Texas lumber town.","narrative":"Built in 1902 on Main Street in Kountze, Texas, this two-story wood-frame house blends Queen Anne and Colonial Revival design. Contractor Frank T. Smith of Beaumont built it for James L. Kirby, an executive of the Kirby Lumber Company. Its most striking feature is a two-story wrapped porch with 22 grouped cypress Tuscan columns on each level, beneath a pyramidal hipped slate roof and three shingled gables. Most of the wood is southern pine cut at the company's Silsbee mill, and the interior has wide central halls, tall windows opening to the porch, and a curved pine staircase. Four generations of the Kirby and Hill families lived here for nearly nine decades, and the house was a center of social life in the lumber town. It was listed for its architecture at the local level, and it retains a high degree of integrity. A local arts and education group now owns it and is working to restore it.","period_of_significance":"1902-1948","architect_builder":"Frank T. Smith, builder","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival; Late Victorian: Queen Anne","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Owned by a local arts and education council, which is raising funds to restore the house; some restoration is needed on the porch, columns and an upstairs floor. The widow's walk parts are in storage awaiting restoration.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.6987-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/41/9722/40972241/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/99000610.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000610/c70bed55cd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000610/c70bed55cd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kirby_hill_house_kountze_texas_2014.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:Kirby_hill_house_kountze_texas_2014.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972241","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby%E2%80%93Hill_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55887807"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/hardin-county/kirby-hill-house-99000610/"}