T. H. R. Smith House
Las Cruces, New Mexico

Description: T. H. R. Smith house
Other Names:  R.P Porter (1915);Brown family house
Address: 909 North Alameda, Las Cruces, Dona Ana County, New Mexico
Type: domestic: single family home
Original Client: T. H. R. Smith
Historic Inventory: on National Register of Historic Places
Date: 1914
Condition: extant; in use as a home

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: 2 and 1/2 stories and basement; width 39 feet x length 43 feet, without front porch
Budget/Cost:

Foundation: concrete
Wall Materials: double brick; lower floor exposed brick; upper floor stucco
Roofing Materials: plans call for shingle
Other Materials Used: black marble fireplace
Remodeling and Additions: remodeled by the Browns; see Remarks

Present Owner: Privately owned
Location of Drawings: Present owner: 3 blue prints, ground plan, east elevation, south elevation
Location of Documentary Photographs: UTEP Special Collections

Bibliography: Las Cruces Sun July 20, 1915 page one

Remarks: (1) Smith’s  house went into receivership in 1915, after the bank he was president of declared bankruptcy and he was jailed. The trail for Smith was in Alamogordo, Texas. He was acquitted of all charges
(2) The house was remodeled by the Browns. The sleeping porch was enclosed to create a fourth bedroom; the 8/8 windows were replaced; built-in bookcases in the dining room were removed.
(3) The plans call for a basement with servants rooms, a smoking room, a ballroom and utility rooms.
(4) Some of Trost’s most beautiful and original beam work is found in the living room.
(5) Commission no. 2299

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990