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Greene–Marston House

historic house in Alabama, United States

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ5603834 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Greene–Marston House (commonly known as Termite Hall) is a historic house in Mobile, Alabama.

Description and history

Construction of the house began in about 1851, with a one-and-a-half-story cottage, built by the Greene family. Martin Van Heuval built a much larger two-and-a-half-story Late Victorian structure in 1903, incorporating the earlier house into the main block as a wing. The house was remodeled again in 1910 by William Syson.

The house was sold to Regina DeMouy Rapier in 1919, after the DeMouy house was destroyed in a fire. Many of her DeMouy, Rapier, and Marston relatives lived in the house during this period. The house gained its name in the early twentieth century from an incident involving the Marston sisters, Adelaide and Eleanor. Family tradition maintains that one evening the children were sitting on a porch rail, and when they got up the rail disintegrated before their eyes. It was discovered that the porch had been infested with termites, from which it acquired its common name.

It became locally renowned as a literary gathering place during the tenancy of Adelaide Caroline Marston Trigg.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Greene–Marston House” as historic house in Alabama, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1851, 1903, 1910, 1919—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Greene, Marston and House can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as historic house in Alabama, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5603834. Authority coordinates are 30.687, -88.089. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1851, 1903, 1910 and 1919.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Greene–Marston House”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Greene–Marston House primary sources, Greene–Marston House archive and Greene research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Greene–Marston House”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Greene–Marston House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.