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White Family & House
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Architecture/Additions
Architecture/Additions
 
The White HouseConstruction of the home began in 1910 and was completed in 1912. David Young Tomlinson, Mrs. White's Father, was the contractor and did much of the work himself.

The architecture is called the "Prairie Style" or "Schooner Style" and was used on the "heel" of the Victorian Era. The design was developed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1900's prior to World War 1. The house exemplifies the characteristics of the Prairie Style - gentle sloping and overhanging roofs, various roof levels, large porches. It was copied from a house in Fort Worth, Texas.

In 1916 several rooms were added..
  1. A screened-in porch (now the office) which was used as an informal dining room. The family ate their meals in this room except for special occasions and Sunday Dinner.
  2. A back porch was built to the north of the kitchen. A cool box window with meat hooks was installed to keep stored foods cool.
  3. A feather day bed was kept in the small sitting room which was added on the south corner of the first floor (now the back office). The grandchildren loved to sleep in this room.
  4. The fashion exhibits on the west side of the second floor were originally a sleeping porch.
  5. Mending was done by servants and ladies of the household in the sewing room to the north of the sleeping porch (now the SPS exhibit).
  6. The porte-cochere and driveway on the north side of the house were also built in 1916.
In 1920 the third floor, which houses the archive collection, and the basement were built.

The house contains 14 rooms, 3 baths, the attic and basement, 10'6" ceilings and narrow hard wood floors; lath and plaster walls; was steam heated from a boiler in the basement; 4 wood burning fire places (the parlor fire place has gas logs). Today the Museum is heated and cooled for 4 forced air units. The wood throughout the house is oak.

The carriage house (north of the house) includes a small apartment on the second floor which housed a servant couple, and a hay loft. The White's automobile was stored in east side of the first floor and there were three stalls for the horses and milk cow on the west side.

The large tank on the east side of the carriage house is called a cistern. Rain water ran off the roof of the carriage house and was collected and stored in the tank. There was a faucet on the southside of the tank where the soft water could be drawn for household use if the city water supply failed.

Our museum and historical center is located at 200 N. Lea Ave., Roswell, New Mexico 88201. It is a beautiful prairie style house built in 1912, which gives a glimpse of a simpler time when life seemed to move at a much slower pace. The first floor is furnished and decorated as it would have been in 1912 to 1920. Many of the furnishings are the originals. Several rooms on the 2nd floor have been converted into displays and exhibits of early Roswell and the surrounding area.

The archives are located in a new two story building next door. The archives contain over 11,000 photographs of the past, thousands of books and manuscripts, obituaries, newspaper articles dating back to the early 1900's and other memorabilia that depict the wild west days of the Pecos Valley. Ask us for photographs or information about Southeast New Mexico, Roswell, NM, Pecos Valley, and Chaves County.

Administrative Director Roger K. Burnett
Administrative Assistant Alice L. Wagoner
Museum Director Roger K. Burnett
E-mail Us History@HSSNM.net
Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico, Inc.
200 N Lea Ave
Roswell NM 88201-4655
Phone: (505) 622-8333
Fax: (505) 623-8746
Archive Building 208 N. Lea  622-1176
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