SETX home named one of state’s most endangered places

Preservation Texas announced its annual list of Texas’ Most Endangered Places, which includes a home in Beaumont, at the North Central Texas Regional Preservation Summit on May 11 in Mineral Wells. This year’s list stretches across the state, from El Paso to Beaumont and from Mission to Amarillo, and includes a diverse array of sites in both urban and rural communities.

Locally on the list is the Caroline Gilbert Hinchee House in Beaumont. Built in 1906, and designed by prominent Beaumont architect Henry C. Mauer, the Hinchee House is “an outstanding example of the Queen Anne and Classical Revival styles” as itis listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Caroline Gilbert Hinchee came from a prominent Southeast Texas family that made a fortune in lumber, petroleum, banking and ranching. Although she only lived in the house for seven years before her death in 1913, Hinchee was reportedly active in the Beaumont religious and social circles.

The home was equipped with one of the city’s earliest residential elevators and was used extensively for social functions.

The property had a string of owners over the next 100 years, but slowly fell into disrepair due to neglect, vandalism and storm damage.

The Beaumont Preservation Society (BPS) purchased the building in 2018 and has been working to gather the resources needed to begin a major rehabilitation project.

The building, which is currently tagged by the city for Beaumont for demolition due to unsafe conditions, needs major structural repair, roof repair, and updated mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

The BPS is seeking funding, and a preservation plan to save the endangered Hinchee House, before it continues to deteriorate further, or is lost forever.

Preservation Texas supports sites on its Most Endangered Places list by providing advocacy support, publicity, connections to professional resources and assistance in fostering and building community partnerships.

The nine sites included on the 2023 list of Texas’ Most Endangered Places join a growing list that began in 2004, all of which “merit the investment of time and resources necessary to save them.”

Of the more than 150 individual sites that have been included on the list over the last 19 years, only 14, or 9%, have been lost.

“Each site represents a chance to reinvest in our historic communities to ensure that irreplaceable landmarks can continue to contribute to the richness of our culture and to the economic vitality of our state,” said Preservation Texas Executive Director Evan Thompson. “In the months and years ahead, progress will be made, and we look forward to a future where each one of these sites are protected, productive, and restored to their proper place as tangible reminders of our irreplaceable Texas heritage.”

The other eight sites on the list are:

• St. John Colony, Near Dale (Caldwell County)

• DeLeon Depot, 280 North Texas St., DeLeon (Comanche County)

• El Paso County Coliseum, 4100 E. Paisano Dr., El Paso (El Paso County)

• The Tournalaid Homes, 2616 & 2620 MacArthur St., Longview (Gregg County)

• Courtney & St. Holland’s Schools, 16263 6th St., Navasota (Grimes County)

• Roosevelt School Auditorium, 407 E. 3rd St., Mission (Hidalgo County)

• Historic Resources of East Lampasas, near 604 College St., Lampasas (Lampasas County)

• Amarillo Santa Fe Depot, 401 Grant Street, Amarillo (Potter County)

Visit preservationtexas.org/newsblog/mep2023 to learn more about each site on the 2023 Texas’ Most Endangered Places list.