3 replies to this topic

[bburton]

As it says on the plaque - possibly the oldest brick building in Tarrant County.

[Doohickie]

Well you saved me some legwork; I've been thinking of stopping by, reading the plaque, and snapping a few pics. I've been wondering about that building fragment for a while now.

I will still probably do all that, but the pics and description are appreciated.

[John S.]

Assuming "structure" could be substituted for "building", the back portion of the David Chapman Bennett house at 731 Samuels is older, likely dating to the 1870's. The 1880's frame addition to the front of the original Bennett house created a visual dilemma that was solved by nailing furring strips onto the 18" thick brick walls and covering them with wood clapboards to match the later addition. (unfortunately, the brick walls are not visible unless inside the house) A still older masonry home once stood at the corner of East Bluff and (vanished) Cummings St. (a photo of the circa 1872 home was included in the book How Fort Worth became the Texas-most City) Still older was the 1858 Gothic Revival style Colonel J. B. Griffin house at 804 Penn Street; the photo of it was captioned as the "First brick residence in Fort Worth" in Dr. Rex Z. Howard's early 1950's Texas Guide. As of 1954, it was still apparently standing. I'm not sure where Dr. Howard obtained his historical information so without further research, I'd put a question mark on that one although the Gothic Revival style was in its prime during the late 1850's. It's obvious that brick and stone buildings were much preferred over frame as I recall reading about an ordinance from the early 1900's requiring all new downtown buildings to be of fireproof materials construction, no wood/frame structures were allowed. This led to a fair number of old frame structures being demolished or moved out of the downtown area especially on the east side of downtown. The Methodist Church Vestry was uncovered years ago as part of a project by the Bass family. To their credit they wisely recognized what it was and stabilized the old structure as part of old Fort Worth. Nice photos, Bruce!

[Stadtplan]

Here's some photos of the 4th St. Vestry from today's Downtown Walking Tour: