Sims, O. B., House
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Why it's listed
This one-and-a-half-story frame house at 1408 W. Main Street in Waxahachie was built in 1898 for O. B. Sims, a successful cotton broker who owned it until the 1930s. It follows an L-plan, a Victorian variation on the older two-room house with a center passage. Weatherboard siding covers the walls, and a steeply pitched hipped roof with cross gables caps the house. A six-bay L-shaped porch with turned wood posts wraps the south elevation. Queen Anne details include jig-sawn bargeboard on the facade gable and dormer, spindlework porch frieze, art glass, imbricated shingles in the gable, and a wood hood over the entrance. The nomination describes it as an outstanding example of the most common regional plan type and one of the city's best illustrations of a traditional form combined with Queen Anne styling. Its original fabric is largely intact. The house stands in a mixed residential and commercial area on the west end of the city and remains a residence in good condition.
Significance in brief: The nomination calls it an outstanding example of the L-plan, the most common regional house type, which it describes as a Victorian elaboration of the traditional two-room, center-passage plan. Most of its original fabric is intact. It is described as one of the city's finest examples of a traditional house form combined with Queen Anne style details. It was built for O. B. Sims, a successful cotton broker.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 86002441, listed September 24, 1986. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 1408 W. Main, Waxahachie |
|---|---|
| County | Ellis County |
| Listed | September 24, 1986 |
| Reference number | 86002441 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | L-plan with Queen Anne details |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Present condition is listed as good, and the present use is residential. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 32.39785, -96.86348 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 86002441.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q110001971
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.