Lewis-Bivins House
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This house was constructed in 1885 or 1895 for local merchant B. F. Lewis and his wife, E. A. Lewis. In 1905 the Lewises sold their home to James Knox Bivins, a Confederate veteran and lumberman, who presented the deed to his wife Viola (Cobb) as a gift. The Bivins family moved to Longview to be close to his sawmill in the nearby Talley community. Viola Bivins restored the structure in 1941 with an inheritance from her father. The Lewis-Bivins house is among the last Victorian dwellings in Longview. The structure exhibits mixed folk Victorian elements with cornice returns, spindlework porch balusters and decorative porch post brackets. A simple folk form with Queen Anne accents, the design remains largely intact. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1999
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in the 1880s or 1890s for merchant B. F. Lewis, this folk Victorian house passed in 1905 to James Knox Bivins, a Confederate veteran and lumberman who gave the deed to his wife Viola as a gift so the family could live near his sawmill. Viola Bivins restored the home in 1941 with an inheritance from her father. With its spindlework porch and Queen Anne accents, it stands as one of the last Victorian dwellings in Longview.
Why it matters
The house preserves the domestic architecture and timber-fueled prosperity of a small Gilded Age Texas town, a vanishing reminder of the Victorian era's ornate tastes.
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Related people
- · James Knox Bivins
- · Viola Cobb Bivins
- · B. F. Lewis
Themes & tags
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