Longview, Gregg County
This house was constructed in 1885 or 1895 for local merchant B. F. Lewis and his wife, E. A. Lewis. In 1905 the Lewises sold their home to James Knox Bivins, a Confederate veteran and lumberman, who presented the deed to his wife Viola (Cobb) as a gift. The Bivins family moved to Longview to be close to his sawmill in the nearby Talley community. Viola Bivins restored the structure in 1941 with an inheritance from her father. The Lewis-Bivins house is among the last Victorian dwellings in Longview. The structure exhibits mixed folk Victorian elements with cornice returns, spindlework porch balusters and decorative porch post brackets. A simple folk form with Queen Anne accents, the design remains largely intact. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1999