Ernest Krause was the first registered Architect in the City of El Paso, beginning his practice in 1881 and designing a number of early historical buildings, including the ornate Grand Central Hotel and the original (and spectacular) Hotel Dieu Hospital. He also designed the entire northern elevation (south side) of San Antonio Street between Mesa and Oregon, which included the Patterson Building, the Turner, the Nations, the Rokauer, and the extant Coles Building. We claim with some certainty that prior to the advent of Trost & Trost in 1903, E. Krause was by far the most prolific architect in the Sun City. He remained active in El Paso until at least 1915. For some interesting info on the demolished Nations, Turner and Patterson buildings, see my January 2021 article at the Trost Society's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TrostSociety/posts/3553970648054309.
One of Krause's most beautiful residences was completed in September, 1902 for Metallurgist and Mining Engineer William Bell. Located at 619 Arizona at the Ochoa intersection, the home is currently the El Paso office of the Lovett Law Firm, who is maintaining the property immaculately.
An article in the El Paso Times of October 13, 1901, announced that Krause would be designing the home, however identified the location incorrectly as Rio Grande and Ochoa. It was easy using period City Directories to correct their mistake, however, and the 619 address was confirmed by subsequent newspaper research. The home was erected by contractor Hewitt & Jones, and the 3,889 square foot building cost $6,000. This two story yellow brick home appears to have been build on a concrete foundation, although rock foundations were more common during that era. The style is an eclectic Queen Anne Victorian (ish), with its steeply pitched and irregular roof shapes, multiple gables, the "turret" features front and side, and the full-width single story porch.
Construction began almost immediately, however unusually the house took almost a year to complete - the Bell Family moved in to their new home on October 15, 1902. It was uncommon during that period for a house to take longer than a few months to complete.
W.E. Bell was an interesting sort. His specialty as a metallurgist was in Mercury, nevertheless bought and sold mines of all types throughout Chihuahua, Mexico, California, and Texas. He set up homestead camps on land he felt was going to be valuable, then sold the land to mining companies (or leased to them) producing large profit margins with little overhead. He also owned mines himself - most notably a Mercury mine in conjunction with Senator W.W. Turney located in the Big Bend district. Bell, who was considered an El Paso pioneer, passed away on the 10th of Decamber 1922 at the age of 73.
The advertising from the firm that occupies the building states: "You'll Love it at Lovett". Believe us - we do. What a beautiful structure.
***************
Text and research provided to sketchclub.net by Mark Stone, citing period newspaper articles accessed at newspaper.com. Also citing El Paso City Directory entries accessed at the UNT Digital Archives at https://texashistory.unt.edu/
 |
| Photograph courtesy of Loopnet at https://www.loopnet.com/property/619-arizona-ave-el-paso-tx-79902/48141-A46299900607600/ |
 |
| Google Earth Street View 2021 |
 |
| Google Earth Street View 2021 |
 |
| Google Earth Street View 2021 |
 |
| Google Earth Street View 2021 |
