The Parsons House

Jefferson City
Cole County

This house at 105 Jackson Street in Jefferson City was constructed c.1830, making it one of the oldest houses in Jefferson City. It was home for many years to the family of G.A. and Patience Parson, who purchased the house in the 1840s. The building has a unique one-story French creole design on a highly raised basement, giving it a more substantial 2-story look, It features double gallery porches on the principal façade. An historic resources survey in 1992 determined the house was eligible for listing individually on the National Register of Historic places, and the Jefferson City Historic Preservation Commission in 1993 designated it a Local Landmark. Long vacant, this house is emblematic of a larger problem in this historic area, where many of the historic buildings – many of them substantial Italianate and Queen Anne style mini-mansions – are owned by a single party who seems to have little interest in either maintaining, redeveloping or selling their many properties along Jackson and Adams Streets and East Capitol Avenue, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places Capitol Avenue Historic District. Historic City of Jefferson and the local Historic Preservation Commission have for the past several years focused their efforts on the issue of neglected historic properties. Our hope in listing this house on Missouri’s historic Places in Peril is that the owner might be encouraged to finally fix up or sell – and that the local government seek stronger and enhanced laws to protect buildings from owners who would practice demolition by neglect.