Warren House Terrell,Texas

The Warren house has undergone a complete 14-month top-to-bottom restoration.  Built between 1897 and 1904 by Robert Lee Warren, this Colonial Revival-Prairie School-style mansion had fallen into disrepair. The current owners are lovers of old houses who felt the house needed a complete restoration to save one of Terrell’s and Texas’s unique historical architectural properties.  

The house is currently a single-family residence. Even so, it would serve well for special occasion meetings or as a movie set. We would be pleased to discuss the possibilities. 

In the coming months, we will add more information about the house's history, additional pictures, restoration details, and other relevant information to this website.

The house initially had a Music room (now a downstairs bedroom); the lady's Parlor remains, and the gentlemen’s parlor is now the Library. I left the baseboard trim behind the cabinets in the library if anyone wants to return to the original room. 

Each room has architectural and special features that make it unique. For example, the Library has a beamed ceiling, a large fireplace, a ceiling height of eleven feet, 8 ft X 8 ft pocket doors, two built-in seating-storage areas, and a large picture window with leaded glass. We also added custom bookcases. Every room has similar design features, including hallways and bathrooms.

During the restoration, many long-standing condition issues were addressed, such as water accumulation in the basement, the attic being open to pests and creatures around the frieze, the cellar being open to pests and other creatures via the crawl space, and no screened chimney caps to keep rain and flying creatures from nesting. There was no sink in the downstairs half bath, no convenient washer-dryer connection, and a lack of a pantry. There were no handrails; we installed them in six locations, 3-interior staircases, and all exterior porches except the front for historical reasons. We kept all the original windows, ceilings, doors, locks, and woodwork that we could. 

This home is 120 years old (built 1897-1904); it has the character of a grand old lady who has seen all those 120+ years. Some windows are not operatable, and some doors do have a mind of their own. A glass marble laid on the floor may not stand still. The front clear stained glass is original, and we left it alone, though some attention wouldn't hurt. We cannot attest to the validity of rumors of ghosts, but then again, the rumors entertain children and make for a lively conversation. This home has many unique characteristics and features that add to its charm. For such a large home, it is a very livable floor plan and feels comfortable.

We hope we have set this grand structure on a better course for the next 100 years, and we know the improvements will make the home more enjoyable. 

Total Square feet living area 6,201 S.F

· Attic 1,300 S.F.

· Basement 700 S.F.

· Porch’s 2,200 S.F.

· Balconies 364 S.F.

· Living Area downstairs 3,370 S.F.

· Living Area Upstairs 2,331 S.F.

- Total S,F, under roof 10,000 +

· Land 1.39 Acres

Rooms, doors, windows, etc., 

· 1-Entry Way / Gathering room 

· 1-Gathering/Living room UP

· 1-Ladies Parlor 

· 1-Library

· 3-Hallways

· 1-Kitchen

· 1-Servant’s hallway

· 5-Bedrooms

· 4-1/2 baths1

· Pantry/Laundry room

· 1-Small Sunroom

· 2-Balconies

· 1-Balcony/Crow’s Nest lookout

· 2-Hall ways

· 1-Main Stair Case

· 1-Servant’s staircase

· 1-Attic staircase

· 2-Basement staircases

· 7-porch stairs

· 9-Fire places

· 16-Doors

· 67-Windows

· 2-stairway landings

Introduction/Entry Hall

Welcome to the Warren Mansion. Construction started in 1898 and was completed in/around 1904. Robert Lee Warren built the home with 18 rooms, including a formal reception hall, two large drawing rooms (one a gentleman’s parlor and the other a lady’s parlor), nine fireplaces, a basement, and an attic. Mr. Warren was a State Senator from 1911 to 1915, and his love of entertaining was well known. 

One of the parlors has since become the library, and the other remains the lady’s parlor. The former music room has become the downstairs master suite. The stairwell contains two landings, one with a fireplace and reading area and the other a nice place to rest while walking up the stairs. 

The downstairs consists of the entry-gathering room, the ladies’ parlor, the library, the downstairs master suite, the kitchen, the butler’s pantry, the dining room, and two hallways. The homeowners purchased the home in 2023, and after a 14-month complete restoration, it has been returned to its former grandeur. 

One interesting detail is the extra-wide front doors in homes like this one. The wide doors were to accommodate coffins. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, most families would bring their deceased family home for “viewing” and utilize the front doors to bring in the coffin and set it up in the parlor or entry hall for friends and family to pay their respects before burial.

Ladies Parlor

The ladies’ parlor consists of period furnishings, including two China cabinets that house the Gentry and Crowson families' chinaware. There are two distinct but similar styles of China; one was carefully cultivated and preserved family China, brought back from occupied Japan during WWII, with service for twenty, and would be expensive to replace. 

One day, the homeowner heard a rattling noise and walked into her dining room to find her three-year-old granddaughter playing afternoon tea, sitting on the floor in front of the bow-front cabinet, stacking and unstacking China. After carefully placing the China back in the cabinet, Beverly found an estate sale where she purchased a set of China that became her Grand-China. The Grand China is housed in the 1940s flat front cabinet to the left of the windows, and the other Original China is located in the bow front Cabinet to the right.

The woodwork on the mantle and baseboards throughout the room has been lovingly restored in the most recent restoration. The ceiling medallions and frieze were added by the former owner and restored by the current owners. The light fixtures were removed, cleaned, and repaired in the recent restoration. The chandelier is original. 

Library

The library was formerly the gentleman’s parlor. The shelves in the library were designed by Jim, one of the homeowners, and contain both his and Beverly’s collections of current and antique books and travel treasures. Treasures like the Nancy Drew series, junior books, and many other lovely volumes. An interesting tidbit: when Jim designed the shelving, he purposefully put the shelves outside the baseboards and trim so that in the future, if another homeowner wished to restore the room to a parlor, they would only need to remove the shelves, and the original room would be intact.

Along the top of the bookshelves, you will see a collection of antique clocks and art pieces. Behind the glass in one of the cabinets, Jim has a unique porcelain doll collection. The portrait of the young girl came from an antique store in Jefferson, Texas, and reminded him of what Beverly might have looked like as a young woman had she lived in the late 1800s. 

A funny note: although the homeowners hardly ever disagree, Jim fought the color of the cabinets and walls of the room for about two weeks before giving in. Don’t you think they turned out beautifully?

Master Suite/Downstairs

This room was originally used as a music room. When Senator Warren owned the property, all interior doors downstairs were left open so that the piano or small orchestra could be heard throughout the home. The home's circulation design is a complete circle so that all of Senator Warren’s guests could have ambled from room to room during events. 

Recently, the room was turned into a master suite by adding a full bath so that the owner, who was recovering from knee surgery, didn’t have to climb the stairs to the master suite upstairs. The woodwork was carefully restored, and the fireplace was converted to electricity. The room's easy access to the kitchen, dining room, and library makes it desirable.

Butler’s Pantry & Kitchen

The former and current homeowners utilize the rear hallway and Butler’s Pantry, with its built-in cabinetry, to house numerous sets of China and serve ware for entertaining. The smallest built-in wall cabinet in this hallway is currently used for spices. 

The kitchen in the home required a complete renovation to the studs because of tremendous water damage. At one point, the room had no ceiling, floor, or wallboard. The current owners added the walk-in pantry to provide a laundry room and food storage area for the kitchen.

The floor was purposefully made to look worn to enhance the ambiance in the room. The current owners designed the center island to house baking supplies. The stove is an imported Ilve brand from Italy, it took three months after ordering to arrive for installation.

The home has Nine fireplaces, but the current owner wanted at least a faux fireplace in the kitchen area to allow her to enjoy the fire as she worked on baked and tested cookbook recipes—the shelves in the kitchen house had approximately 600 cookbooks collected by the homeowner. The library also contains a small number of antique cookbooks that round out the collection.

Dining Room

The formal Dining Room includes a beautiful built-in cabinet that was in serious disrepair. The ceiling of the built-in was falling down, and the drawers would not open/close. Thanks to the owner’s brother-in-law and one of the talented contractors, the area was restored, and the drawers now hold linens. The dining table was lovingly restored by the homeowner, who found the table and chairs separately. She had the chairs restored and recovered and was able to put together a table that seats up to 12 -14 for family events. The room contains a small collection of silver and a set of China. 

Jim designed the floral centerpiece, which serves as a complement to the William Morris-style wallpaper. 

The Dining Room required woodwork restoration, texture on the walls, new wallpaper, and paint. The fireplace was converted to electric. 

The room has been used as a formal dining room. Many people ask if the home is haunted, to which the current owners reply that there is a sense of peace and happiness throughout the home, especially in the Dining Room, which prompts one to think there has been more than one family who lived happily in the home. 

Upstairs Landing/Overview of the Bedrooms

The home has an expansive landing that connects four bedrooms, with a centralized area used as an upstairs living and game area. There is a small table and chairs that are typically used for puzzles or board games. There is also a small living area with a large-screen television to watch old movies or football games. There will eventually be a small bar area to round out the entertainment opportunity for the room. 

Each bedroom is now a suite with a full bathroom. The rooms are themed for the owners’ grandchildren and guests. 

· There is a Tiffany’s room with a pink and Tiffany blue color scheme. A built-in cabinet houses a collection of beanie babies and treasures that any girl would enjoy. The eldest granddaughter, Ali, most often occupies it.

· The Candyland room is a pink and fluffy place full of fairy magic. Kylie, the youngest granddaughter, enjoys it. 

· The Toy Soldier room is blue, gold, and cream and has an authentic clawfoot-tub in the large bathroom. The Christmas decorations include a collection of toy soldiers throughout the room, which belongs primarily to Kayden, their grandson.

· The upstairs Master suite is decorated in a nostalgic Christmas theme with a toy train on an antique dressing table and a lovely sitting area with late Victorian antique furnishings. home yours.