DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, when a jeweler builds a house, you can bet he's not leaving anything to chance. James E.
Mitchell — jeweler by trade, perfectionist by nature — demanded a high degree of skilled craftsmanship when this place went up. And whoever he hired, they delivered. The house was completed in 1907, designed by the Fort Worth architectural firm of Sanguinet and Staats.
You don't call in an architectural firm unless you mean business, and Mitchell meant business. A jeweler's eye doesn't miss much, whether he's peering through a loupe at a diamond or walking the framing of a house going up board by board. This place was built to be looked at closely and hold up under the scrutiny.
In 1920, a friend of Mitchell's — Dr. Charles B. Simmons — purchased the property.
Now that's how you know a house has something to it: when a man who already knows it well decides he wants to own it. The home stayed in the Simmons orbit from there. In 1945, ownership was transferred to Dr.
Simmons' daughter Maurine and her husband, Dr. Frank Schoonover. And the Schoonovers didn't treat it as an investment or a curiosity — they lived there.
Occupied the residence all the way until 1979. Three families, one house, seven decades of life inside walls that a jeweler once refused to let be anything less than fine. Some things are built to last, and some things are built by people who simply won't accept any other outcome.
What the marker says
James E. Mitchell, a jeweler, demanded a high degree of skilled craftsmanship in the construction of this house. Completed in 1907, it was designed by the Fort Worth architectural firm of Sanguinet and Staats. A friend, Dr. Charles B. Simmons, purchased the property in 1920. Ownership of the home was transferred to his daughter Maurine and her husband Dr. Frank Schoonover in 1945. The occupied the residence until 1979. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark- 1979.