The lavish Queen Anne and Prairie Style residences and eclectic churches on these streets south of the courthouse reflect the dynamic local economy of the 1875–1910 period. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church (1909; 401 S. Crockett), an English-influenced Gothic Revival design, is unusual for its short, square tower positioned to the south end of the long nave, rather than at the front as an entrance. The Edward Metz House (1883; 506 S. Crockett) displays exceptional low-relief detailing in its front-facing gable and eyebrow roof eave. Metz was a leather goods merchant who bought furs and buffalo hides from Indians in nearby Oklahoma for resale in eastern markets.
The Sherman Preservation League occupies the former Charles N. Roberts House of 1897 at 915 S. Crockett. Representative of the many substantial late-nineteenth-century residences lining S. Crockett Street, home to the city’s business and civic elite, this Queen Anne house exhibits Stick Style and Eastlake influences. Built for Connecticut native Roberts, a partner in a Sherman wholesale hardware company, the two-and-a-half-story house was designed by John S. Moad (1851–1917) of Moad and Elliott of Dallas. With this house, Moad broadened his characteristic Queen Anne style to encompass highly ornamental trim and include major and minor dormers. In place of the standard corner turret, he incorporated a distinctive corbeled bay window that wraps the northwest corner of the house to express the stair landing. An octagonal, tent-roofed gazebo in the side yard demonstrates similar Eastlake influences.
Other notable houses include the square-turreted Hassel-Hay House (c. 1894; 910 S. Crockett), built by the Sherman lumber dealer W. W. Sturgis, and the George Benny House (1902) at number 1211, a low-key Queen Anne.
At 727 S. Travis is St. Mary’s Catholic Church (1906), a richly detailed Romanesque Revival church attributed to Nicholas J. Clayton of Galveston. The tower, with an open top stage, is centered on the west end of the nave. The side-facing, pinnacled gables just behind the front facade are a signature feature of many of Clayton’s churches. At 618 S. Travis is the corner-turreted Queen Anne Omuhundro House (c. 1895.); and at number 700 the symmetrical Italianate Jones-Markham house (1878).