695 Pearl St 

Originally built in 1903 for the First Baptist Church, the building was bought in 1924 by Capt. W.C. Tyrrell and donated to the city for use as a library. Originally built as Beaumont’s First Baptist Church, the Tyrrell Historical Library building was purchased by Captain W.C. Tyrrell and donated to the city for use as a library in the 1920s. It is an excellent example of the style of Henry Hobson Richardson’s Romanesque Revival architecture. In 1990, the City of Beaumont and the Tyrrell Historical Library Association restored the structure. The combination of a contemporary library and a historic church is beautifully illustrated in this building, its stained-glass windows, the dome ceiling and the subtle paint scheme create a quiet ambience in this historic site that is now home to a research library with collections devoted to the study of Texas history, as well as genealogy. It is an exceptional example of Romanesque Revival architecture, an unusual style for this part of the country, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Architectural Features Include: 

·      Construction of rusticated Missouri limestone

·      A two-story rectangular floor plan with a gable-on-hip slate roof

·      A five-story square-plan bell tower on the southwest corner of the building and a three-story square-plan stair tower in the northwest corner; both with steeply pitched pyramidal slate roofs. The main entrance is recessed in the bell tower.

·      Five rectangular windows symmetrically placed in the first story

·      A large, central Gothic arch-stained glass window on the second floor

·      A large, central point in the arch forms a gable dormer on the third story

·      The stained-glass window is flanked by smaller rectangular windows on either side

·      Six square windows, in two rows of three, on the third stories of both towers

·      The fourth and fifth stories of the bell tower contain two Gothic arch openings each