Title
Conduct a Public Hearing to Consider/Discuss/Act on the Request by Tom & Lea Chandler for Approval of a Historic Marker for the House Located at 508 Tucker Street.
Summary
COUNCIL GOAL: Enhance the Quality of Life in McKinney
MEETING DATE: January 7, 2021
DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT: Guy R. Giersch, Historic Preservation Officer
Mark Doty, Assistant Director of Planning
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff is recommending approval of a historic marker for 508 Tucker Street.
PRIORITY RATING: The property is listed as a high priority building according to the 2015 Update of the Historic Resource Survey. A high priority building contributes significantly to local history or broader historical patterns; is an outstanding or unique example of architecture, engineering or crafted design; retains a significant portion of its original character and contextual integrity; meets in some cases, criteria for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and/or is eligible for a Texas Historical Marker.
ITEM SUMMARY: The purpose of the Historic Marker Program is to encourage owners of historic properties to become actively involved in the preservation of McKinney’s historic past through the recognition of historic events, people, and architecture. The applicant has submitted a written narrative relating the history of the various families that have owned the property or resided at 508 Tucker Street and the role they played in McKinney’s history. On December 4, 2020, the applicant submitted the necessary documentation to apply for a historic marker for the house located at 508 Tucker Street known as the Bristol House.
The Bristol House was built in 1895, for Robert Bristol. The house is two-story, wood-frame and wood-sided house built on a wood, pier-and-beam foundation. The house is a combination of Prairie Style, American Four-Square, a four-square variant, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Classic Revival. The predominant roof is a hip roof with a centrally placed dormer. These elements give the house its basic four-square massing. The first-floor veranda uses Tuscan style columns and. covered by a portico which is covered with a porch that is supported with a low-pitched Classical pediment from the Classic Revival era. The Romanesque motif of the second floor is repeated in the arching first-floor window ornamented with a stylized wooden keystone and leaded glass located in the arch. Above the arched window is a bay window.
The first floor has a porch that wraps around the southeast corner of the house. The front door is located on this elevation. The door has beveled glass in both of the sidelights and the main section of the door.
The arches located on the second floor enclose a curved Romanesque arcade and a screened sleeping porch is located at the northeast corner of the second story. The house has covered soffits which form wide eaves that are supported by brackets.
The 1895 house was altered in 1919. Apparently, based on a newspaper article the sunroom, located at the rear of the house was added. There is no evidence indicating any other changes until the 1948 tornado damaged the house by twisting the house 12 inches on its foundation. In 2000, the house went through a major restoration. Piers and beams were replaced. There were originally 18 piers that supported the first-floor porch which went around three sides of the house. The bulk of restoration has maintained the original interior and exterior of the house. The Chandlers have spent in excess of $400,000 in their attempt to preserve the house.
The Chandlers plan to restore rotten wood porches and applying finishes to the interior walls and ceiling.
Historical Figures Associated with the House:
Robert Elam Bristol (1863-1942)
Robert Elam Bristol was born in North Carolina in 1863 to William H. and Jemima E. Johnson. The family moved to the McKinney area in 1872. Robert was 9 when they moved. Robert’s brother, William was a physician and he worked with Dr. Ben E. Throckmorton, son of James W. Throckmorton. In 1890 Robert was 27 years old. Ads began to appear in the local newspaper promoting the Bristol Brothers Drug Store owned and operated by Robert, William and Cousin John Sidney Bristol. The Bristol Brothers Drug Store eventually became City Drug Store. The Bristol Brothers dissolved their business arrangement in 1892 when John left to start an implements store. Two years later Robert purchased a lot from Robert M. Board on Tucker Street and began construction of the Bristol House at 508 Tucker was completed in 1895. In 1898 John returned to manage the City Drug Store.
City Drug Store continued operation for at least another decade. The store was located where the Lovejoy Building now stands (aka) Uptown.
Robert’s mother Jemima died in 1908. The following year Robert sold the City Drug Store to Dr. Robert A. Whitaker from Fort Worth. Dr. Whitaker also bought the house on Tucker.
Dr. Robert Archer Whitaker (1859-1934)
Dr. Robert Whitaker was the owner of the City drug Store in McKinney from 1909 until 1919. It is not known if Dr. Robert was a physician or not. The censuses of 1880 and 1900 list his occupation as farmer. The 1910 census list him as merchant in the drug trade and the 1920 lists his occupation as manager of a milk station and it would not be until the 1920 census that he is listed as a physician, M.D.
Thomas Frederick Everett, Jr. (1864-1931)
Fred was born in 1864 in Alexandria, Tennessee. Mr. Everett eventually moved to McKinney in 1889. He started out as a clerk for the dry-goods firm of Murphy, Perry & Co. Eventually he became a traveling salesman for silk merchant Charles Schoolhouse of New York and worked for 27 yrs.
In 1894, Fred married Hallie Board, daughter of Robert and Adelia Board. Fred Everett bought the Bristol home from Dr. R.A. Whitaker to accommodate Everett, his wife Hallie and her parents Milt and Adelia Board. They lived at the residence until Milt, Adelia, and Thomas all died of pneumonia in the spring of 1931.
Fred Everett was a civically active. He was a deacon in the First Christian Church, a 32nd degree mason and a life-long member of St. John’s Lodge #51 in McKinney. He served as local Red Cross Chairman during WW1.
Robert Milton “Milt” Board (1837 - 1931)
Robert was born in Virginia in 1837. He arrived in McKinney in 1855. He fought in the Civil War and upon his return from the War he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law Isaac D. Newsome to open the dry goods business located on the north side of the McKinney Square. According to a McKinney newspaper Milt was very charitable. He died at the age of 96.
Glenn Wood Massie (1892-1978)
Glenn Massie was owner and funeral director of the Massie Funeral Home that his father began in 1913.Glenn owned the home at 508 Tucker Street from 1933 until 1949.
Louis Vernon Chandler (1913 - 2003)
Louis Chandler was a rural mail carrier. He was active in the Kiwanis and Masons in McKinney. Louis and his wife Alma purchased the house in 1949. Eventually their son Tom and his wife Alma moved into the house in 1998. They soon took over the restoration of the house.
ASSESSMENT: Staff believes that the applicant has met all the requirements to obtain a Historic Marker under the Historic Neighborhood Improvement Zone Program (Ordinance 2015-12-105). Therefore, Staff is recommending approval of a Historic Marker for 508 Tucker Street.
Under Ordinance 2015-12-105, if the HPAB approves the Marker, the applicant will be responsible for purchasing and displaying the Historic Marker.
Also, under Ordinance 2015-12-105, if the Historic Preservation Advisory Board approves the Marker, the applicant may make application for a Level 1 tax exemption (100% exemption of the City’s ad valorem taxes for a period of 7 years) providing the building has architectural integrity and has been properly rehabilitated/restored and maintained. The building must have a residential use in order to qualify for the tax exemption.