John & Bessie Parker House
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John Wilson Parker (1861-1930) and Bessie Coelhite Smith (1865-1948) married in Taylor in 1881; the couple had two daughters. John was admitted to the bar in 1881 and appointed an alternate justice to the Supreme Court of Texas in 1899 and 1902. The family came to Houston in 1903, with John a partner in the law firm of Brown, Lane, Garwood and Parker. Bessie was a charter member of the Houston Public School Art League. Architect John F. Staub designed their 1925 home, a two-story Tudor Revival style house with a steeply pitched roof, brick façade with raised patterns, paired casement windows, and a tall chamfered chimney. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2011
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the 1920s, as oil-era Houston came into its own, attorney John Wilson Parker and his wife Bessie built an elegant Tudor Revival home designed in 1925 by the celebrated Houston architect John F. Staub. John had risen through Texas law to serve even as an alternate justice of the state Supreme Court, while Bessie helped nurture the city's cultural life as a charter member of the Houston Public School Art League. The brick house, with its steep roof and tall chamfered chimney, reflects the confident domestic architecture of a rising Southern metropolis.
Why it matters
The home embodies how oil-era Houston's professional class shaped a distinctive American city and preserves early work by John F. Staub, one of Texas's most influential residential architects.
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Related people
- · John Wilson Parker
- · Bessie Coelhite Smith
- · John F. Staub
Themes & tags
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