Dr. Martin Yates/Bell House - Fulton, MO
Posted by: YoSam.
N 38° 51.247 W 091° 56.843
15S E 591335 N 4301114
This Italianate home housed newspaper publishers (Ovid Bell) and medical doctors (Dr. Martin Yates).
Waymark Code: WMWCZM
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 08/16/2017
Views: 0
County of house: Callaway County
Location of house: Court St., 2nd house S. of E. 9th St.,Fulton
Construction date: 1880
Original owner: Dr. Martin Yates
Architect-Builder: M. Fred Bell
Outbuilding: Garage (C)
52. 834 Court Street (C)
Original-Historic owner or Name: Dr. Martin Yates/Bell House;
Construction Date: 1880-81 ;
Architect: M. Fred Bell;
Property type-style: Italianate;
Outbuilding: Garage (C)
"The Yates house is a two-story brick residence with medium pitched hipped roof and a large
projecting cross gable on the front facade. A projecting cornice supported by decorative
brackets is at the roofline and also creates a cornice return at the cross gables. All the
windows, except for a round arch window in the cross gable, have segmental arched
openings and are flanked by non-original shudders. Slender Tuscan columns on paneled
plinths support a full width hipped roof front porch. A low pitched pediment marks the
location of the stairs to the porch. A stained glass window is located to the right side of the
west facade and another is located in the transom over the entrance. A 1½ story kitchen
with maid's room above is located at the northeast corner of the house. It was originally a
separate building but was joined later. The is an associated frame garage with clapboard
siding and a hipped roof behind the house.
"According to the legal abstract for this property, John H. and Mary Jameson sold the lot for
this house on April 28, 1880 to Martin Yates for $600. M. Fred Bell indicated in his Pleasant
Homes and How to Make Them (1884) that he had designed a residence for Martin Yates,
Physician, Fulton, MO. Ovid Bell, Jr., says that the foundation was laid (with a separate
foundation for each room) and was allowed to settle for a year before the rest of the house
was built. Thomas H. Van Sant and his wife bought the house from the Yates heirs on May
14, 1937. When the Van Sants lived here, Senator Harry Truman visited the house several
times. Truman may have been a visitor in this house when he was President of the United
States, but this information has not been verified. On October 26, 1953, Thomas and
Katherine Van Sant sold the property to Ovid and Martha N. Bell, making the Bell's the third
family to own the home." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
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