Details for E. O. Finn Building

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5015006349

Data

Marker Number 6349
Atlas Number 5015006349
Marker Title E. O. Finn Building
Index Entry Finn, E. O., Building
Address 301 E. Main St.
City Bellville
County Austin
UTM Zone 14
UTM Easting 764960
UTM Northing 3316257
Subject Codes commercial buildings; Italianate; design and construction; German immigrants/immigration; markets, merchantiles
Marker Year 1982
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Yes
Marker Location
Private Property No
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 27" x 42"
Marker Text Situated on land originally granted by the Mexican government to Austin County pioneer John Nichols, this vernacular Italianate commercial building was constructed in 1896 by E. Oscar Finn and John Thomas Colleton. E.O. Finn (1866-1945), a native of Germany, first came to this country with his parents in 1869. A master mechanic and a smithy of buggies and wagons, Finn built this structure to serve as a sales shop for his products on the first floor with living quarters for his family on the upper story. Drinking water was obtained from a well located inside the building on the first floor, while the remainder of the water supply was piped into the upstairs bathroom from a metal-lined indoor cistern that collected rainwater from the roof. The structure remained in the Finn family for over seventy-five years. The E.O. Finn building, or Carriage House as it is also known, features paired Italianate windows, cast iron columns, and a hand-operated dumbwaiter which was made by the Energy Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia and runs from the basement to the first and second stories. The structure is a reminder of Bellville's early commercial development. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982

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