James Hendricks, Sr. passed away. This is the full obituary where you can share condolences and memories. Published in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph on 2023-09-15.
Wayne Bell at door of Merrell House.
Photography by Michael Patrick
The biggest problem with living in a historic house is time not just coping with the natural aging process of an elderly building but learning to live with architectural patterns that were made to fit the lifestyle of a different era.
Restoration architect Wayne Bell has had to deal with both problems in the ten years he has spent renovating his handsome 107-year-old Central Texas farmhouse. Located between Round Rock and Taylor, half an hour northeast of Austin, the historic Merrell House is a rough-hewn limestone building of pleasingly simple lines. Except where the Taylor highway marks the edge of the front yard, the setting is pastoral, much the way it might have been when the builder of the house, Captain Nelson Merrell, lived there.