UP FRONT

Pretty Paper

Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography courtesy of ALICIA QUINTANS

TALK ABOUT HIDDEN TREASURE.

The Marnell house, an American Foursquare that’s moving to Fouraker Street soon, was hiding priceless details.

The house is moving courtesy of Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters and Urban Genesis, the developer that plans to build apartments at 400 W. Tenth St., where the house has stood since about 1909.

The house has had at least two addresses. It was 250 Tenth St. when it was built sometime prior to 1910 and changed in 1911, when all Dallas city streets were renumbered, says Alicia Quintans, a preservation architect.

Quintans, who also serves on the City’s Landmark Commission, is working with coffee roaster Shannon Neffendorf to move the house to a lot that backs up to his Davis Street Espresso, where he plans to restore it.

For most of its life the house had one owner occupant. Sarah Marnell lived there for 70 years, according to Quintans.

Sarah and Lawrence Marnell, an accountant for the Texas & Pacific Railway, came to Dallas in 1885 and built a shotgun house that faces what is now Bishop Avenue, then Madison. That smaller house is still standing.

Sarah Marnell converted the main house to apartments after her husband died, and it’s been used as an apartment building ever since. Quintans uncovered a trove of antique wallpaper and architectural details, including pocket doors, under decades of drywall and redos. She expects the house could be moved sometime in April.

They’re working with McMillan House Movers and Miller & Sons Construction.

Here is a full report on the history of the house, courtesy of Preservation Dallas:

“Sarah and Lawrence P. Marnell residence, 400 W. Tenth Street c. 1910

Lawrence Marnell, an accountant for the Texas & Pacific Railway, and his wife, Sarah, came to Dallas about 1885. They built their first residence on the southwest corner of Tenth and Madison (now Bishop; the street name was changed in 1905) about 1890, a onestory, wood-frame main house with a two-story shotgun style residence at the back of the lot, facing onto Madison. At the time, the address of the main house was 250 Tenth Street; the address was changed to 400 W. Tenth in 1911 when all Dallas city streets were renumbered. Mrs. Marnell lived at this location until her death in 1959, a total of almost seventy years.

About 1910, the main house was either substantially remodeled or replaced by a two- story, wood-frame residence. City directories and census records indicate that the Marnells were living in the smaller structure at the back of the lot in 1909-1910, perhaps while work on the larger structure was taking place. Mr. Marnell died before the work was completed.

The smaller house at the back of the lot appears to be the original circa 1890 structure, although a bay window was added on the north side of the house after 1905, but before 1922. The property address changed from time to time, but was referred to as 187 S. Bishop in the years after 1911.

Mrs. Marnell rented rooms in her home as well as the smaller structure following her husband’s death, and the two houses have generally served as rental property since she died.” oakcliff.advocatemag.com

See more photos of the Marnell house at oakcliff.advocatemag.com.