117 S. Bell Drive - Bell, Frank Sr. Home - The Settlement Historic District, Texas City, TX - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

117 S. Bell Drive. Frank Bell, Sr. House, now Bell House Museum, ca. 1887. Contributing.

"The construction of the Frank Bell, Sr. House has been dated to 1887 from its recycled lumber salvaged from rubble after three hurricanes hit the Texas coast in 1886. Its dominant style is that of a raised Creole cottage. The house is one and a half stories with an asymmetrical side-gabled roof. It is quite similar to the original 1850s Butler Ranch House in northern Galveston County where many of the Settlement founders had worked. The Butler cattle-ranching family, along with their slaves, moved to Texas from Louisiana where such Creole cottages were common. The house shows Folk Victorian attributes in the tuned porch spindles; the pattern of recycled materials is most evident here, where only the two center posts are alike. The other four columns were collected from varying sources and are of slightly different designs. The cottage has wooden clapboard siding with an inset shed porch that spans the front. The siding is of multiple, shorter-than-usual lengths, and interior views show differing paint colors on the original boards. The center-hall-plan, three-bay house was moved to its present location by rolling on cypress logs that make up its current piers. Cypress piers as foundation supports are another Creole element."

"The lot at 117 South Bell Drive was purchased by Frank Bell, Sr., in 1904 and the house he built in 1887 was moved there shortly afterwards. Frank Bell and his wife Flavilla were both children of original Settlement founders. The house has remained in the family until its donation to Texas City as a museum in 2007. It is the subject of a 2008 National Trust Preservation Planning Grant that will help ensure that the historical integrity of the house will not be altered during any restoration projects."