Julius Yanch Home - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Chappell Hill was originally founded in 1847 by Mary Hargrove Haller who purchased a 100-acre site in this part of Texas on February 2 of that year and subsequently commissioned a survey and the plotting of town lots. Just three years later, Mary and her husband Jacob built the now locally famous "Stagecoach Inn" (which was still a Bed & Breakfast until just recently) at the northwest corner of that new town.

Across the street from yet another house the Hallers built along with the Stagecoach Inn (the "Jacob Haller House", which also boasts its own historical marker) lies the Julius Yanch Home. It is an L-shaped strcuture constructed of cedar in 1854 by local builder Marcus Munyan and one of the town's best documented residences: its original contract includes prices and contains a detailed description of its plan and construction materials.

Per a particular Texas Historical Commission Atlas entry related to Chappell Hill and its multiple National Register of Historic Places designations, the house includes the following features:

"One-story, L-shape, cedar, wood-frame, vernacular residential structure with projecting gable and bay at north end. Front porch features large turned posts with fan brackets and balustrade with fanciful curvilinear cutout pattern. Rear brick chimney and underground cistern of limestone at rear entrance. Weatherboard siding with 6/6 windows surrounded with plain trim and architrave trim lintels. Gabled roof covered with stand- seam metal roof. Original contract for the construction of the house by Marcus Munyan for $175 indicated that structure had 17 x 34 feet perimeter, three paneled doors, five windows, cedar shingled roof, and a single 17- foot partition. Center west front of projecting bay originally contained a chimney bordered by single window. When 1930s fire destroyed chimney, present pair of windows added. Front porch with scroll brackets and posts, as well as projecting end bay, added to the original two room dwelling sometime before 1911. Present balustrade and bath added in the 1960s. Also in 1960s, residence was leveled and repaired. A wooden rear patio deck has been installed in recent times. Only outbuilding on the property is a wooden storage building constructed in 1981."

For further details on the historical marker's original application back in 1968, as well Julius Yanch and his wife Mary, their original building contract, and finally specific structural details, check out the following very educational pages from the "Portal to Texas History" website (especially Page 4 and beyond):
Cover Page, Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8.

Marker Number: 8409 Marker Text: Prime example of pioneer Texas architecture. Built for Yanch in 1854 by M. P. Munyan, contractor for many early Chappell Hill structures. Cedar construction with tongue and groove flooring; chimney, underground cistern of native limestone. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968

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