Frank Courtney Mellard Residence
Marfa, Texas

Description: Frank Courtney Mellard house
Other Names: Highsmith house
Address: 401 North Summer, Southeast corner of Summer and Washington, Marfa, Presidio County, Texas
Type: domestic: single family house
Original Client: Mr. F. C. Mellard
Historic Inventory: none
Date: 1915
Condition: extant but vacant, 2012 occupied

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors: possibly Don Catarino Gonzalez, Marfa
Dimensions and Orientation: one and one half stories
Budget/Cost:

Foundation: concrete
Wall Materials: concrete
Roofing Materials: shingle
Other Materials Used: wood brackets
Remodeling and Additions:

Present Owner: John Hart Highsmith, Jr (?)
Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library: (G-4) 7 ink on linen sheets of plans, including all elevations,dated May 14, 1915
Location of Documentary Photographs: author

Bibliography:

Remarks: Built for, but probably not occupied by, Frank Courtney Mellard; sold or rented to John Hart Highsmith, and later occupied by John Hart Highsmith, Jr. Big Bend Telephone Company, Telephone Directory, October, 1987-1988, Marfa section, page 121, lists Highsmith, J., 401 North Summer. John Hart Highsmith, Sr., moved to Marfa in 1915. On John Hart Highsmith, Sr., and Don Catarino Gonzalez, see: Cecilia Thompson, History of Marfa and Presidio County,Texas, 1535-1946, (Austin: Nortex Press, 1985) Volume Two, 1901-1946, page 418; on Don Catarino Gonzalez, see also: Allen Marshall McCabe House

Commission no. 2325 A fine example of the Craftsman style home.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990