Terrell’s Griffith Avenue Comes Back to Life, One Home at a Time
By Sharon Harper
The view from the Cartwright Home owned by Julie Boyd-Rogers looks over a historic neighborhood on Griffith Avenue in Terrell. Photo by Sarah Greenman
On Griffith Avenue, the past never feels far away. Along the stretch between Rockwall Street and Ninth Street in Terrell’s historic central district, big porches, towering trees, and Victorian homes watch over generations of families.
Like anything built a century ago, even the strongest homes eventually show their age. For a time, many of the houses on the street quietly slipped into disrepair.
It took the vision of some people who saw beyond crumbling trim and peeling paint to bring this neighborhood back to life.
Here are a few who felt drawn to houses that needed a little “loving up” and played significant roles in Griffith Avenue’s revival.
Julia Boyd-Rogers and the House That Felt Alive
When Julia Boyd-Rogers first stepped into the Cartwright Home, she did not approach it the way people usually enter an old house in need of work. She saw it almost like a living thing.
“A historic home speaks to you if you listen,” she says.
It was not a dramatic moment. It was a quiet understanding. If she wanted to restore the house, she needed to learn what made it special in the first place.
The Cartwright Home, located at 505 Griffith Avenue, was built in 1883 for Matthew Cartwright and his wife, Mary Davenport Cartwright. The 7,000-square-foot house reflected Cartwright’s status as a successful rancher, banker, and civic leader. Artists and statesmen were entertained in the home.
Inside, original woodwork, including a majestic staircase, and architectural details survived more than a century of daily life.
The majestic staircase is one of the outstanding qualities preserved during the renovations inside the Cartwright Home. Photo by Sarah Greenman
Boyd-Rogers made it her mission to honor what already existed. She researched the home’s history and repaired rather than replaced. She worked with craftspeople who understood old buildings. Slowly, the house began to look and feel like itself again.
As the work progressed, neighbors noticed. People stopped while walking or slowed their cars to see the changes. Some shared stories about past residents. Others simply expressed appreciation that the home was being cared for again.
Boyd-Rogers and her husband, Dr. Brian Rogers, live in the Cartwright Home today. What began as a restoration became a long-term commitment to preserving a piece of Terrell’s history, and the couple’s place on Griffith Avenue.
Beverly Gentry and the Warren Mansion
The Warren Mansion, located at 705 Griffith, was built by Robert Lee Warren, a prominent Texas figure who began construction around 1897 and completed the home in 1904.
Designed by architect James E. Flanders, the Colonial Revival–Prairie-style home was built using proceeds from Spindletop Oil. The house predates automobiles, and original horse hitch rings remain in the porte-cochere. Home life centered on gathering and conversation, and the mansion hosted many grand parties.
The Warren Mansion on Griffith Avenue in Terrell was renovated by Beverly Gentry. It was built in the early 1900s in Victorian style with Classical Revival touches. Protected on the National Register of Historic Places, it underwent a dramatic rescue after years of decline. Photo by Bella Photography
Warren later served as a Texas State Senator from 1911 to 1915.
More than a century later, when Beverly Gentry first saw the home, it stood in serious disrepair. A HUD repossession, the mansion suffered from water damage, structural problems, and years of deferred maintenance. Many believed the house could not be saved.
Gentry, an experienced renovator of historic homes, believed otherwise.
Even in its condition, she sensed how grand the house once had been. New to Terrell, she and her husband, Jim Glasgow, quickly realized how much the community cared about the mansion.
“The people of Terrell embraced us from the first day,” Gentry says. “They made us feel like we belonged. We are home.”
The restoration took more than 14 months. A construction crew worked six days a week, often dealing with flooding issues in the basement. Slowly, the home returned, not as a showpiece, but as a place meant to live in.
The moment that confirmed the work mattered did not come from a contractor or a final inspection. It came during the 2024 Terrell Social Science Club Christmas Tour of Homes, when more than 800 people walked through the finished home. Some brought memories. Others cried. Many simply wanted to say thank you.
Today, the couple lives in the Warren Mansion they restored.
Dr. Georgeanne Warnock and a Street Worth Discovering
One Griffith Avenue homeowner, Dr. Georgeanne Warnock, first encountered Terrell in 2019 while interviewing for a superintendent position at Terrell ISD. Driving through town, meeting residents, and experiencing the pace of life, Warnock felt an immediate connection to the community.
That connection led her family to a historic home at 204 Griffith Avenue that once served as Terrell’s first schoolroom, educating students beginning in 1874, years before the school district formally opened in 1883. Believed to be among the first four homes built in Terrell, the house dates to around 1873, the year the town was founded, and is widely considered the first home constructed on Griffith Avenue.
During World War II, the home’s lawn hosted British cadets training at the nearby British Flying Training School, while its rooms echoed with piano lessons, conversations, and daily life.
Terrell ISD superintendent Warnock’s renovated family home which was originally Terrell’s first schoolroom beginning in 1874. It is considered the first home constructed on Griffith Avenue. Photo by Bella Photography
Warnock and her husband, Matt, live in the home with their son, Caden.
“Owning a historic home feels like being part of something bigger than ourselves. We don’t just live here — we are continuing the legacy of a beautiful family and walking in their footsteps,” Warnock says.
Why It’s Worth the Drive
Griffith Avenue, located in Terrell’s historic central district, offers more than architecture. It offers living history. These homes were built to last, and together they tell the story of a town that helped shape Texas in its early years. Politicians, bankers, railroad leaders, oilmen, and artists once lived along this street, and their influence reached far beyond Terrell. Their homes remain, standing as reminders of the town’s significance.
For anyone exploring Griffith Avenue, a slow drive or walk from Rockwall Street to Ninth Street offers one of the clearest views of how the past and present come together, one home at a time.
