This was one of the earliest brick buildings on the South Plains. It was acquired by Winfield Scott, a millionaire rancher, and W. T. Scott, a major promoter of the T&P Railway. The house’s early date is indicated by the steep pitch of the roof, the T-shaped plan, and the wraparound Eastlake gallery. It is constructed of locally manufactured brick combined with wooden millwork shipped in by rail.
On the same block at 444 Chestnut, the First Presbyterian Church (David S. Castle Co.) was built in 1925 for a congregation formed in 1881 that held its services first in a tent saloon and then in a dugout, in its own tent, and in a frame church erected in 1891 before this buff brick building was constructed. The church’s tall worship space is on a raised basement and features stepped gable parapets, an Ionic portico and pediment, and arched side windows.