Cloud-Stark House
327 S. Dixon St., Gainesville, TXConstructed about 1885, the Cloud-Stark House stands as one of the oldest extant residences in Gainesville, Texas and is a vital physical link to the city's early prosperity as a cattle boom town during the late 1800s. The two-story structure represents a rare example of Victorian Italianate architecture in the city even though an early 20th-century Colonial Revival portico has somewhat altered the residence's original appearance. The house was also the birthplace of Rose Lewin Franken who later achieved fame as a novelist and playwright during the 1940s and 1950s. Purchased in 1906 by H.W. Stark, the structure has remained in the same family for over seventy-five years, and its current owner is planning to rehabilitate the building for use as a law office.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.