‘Most elaborate residence in Fresno.’ Step back in time inside Meux home built in 1888
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It isn’t clear whether Dr. Thomas Meux realized in 1888 that his landmark home would withstand the vagaries of time while so many of its contemporary Fresno structures have fallen to modernization.
But the home at Tulare and R streets remains a singular legacy, long after the destruction of other notable Fresno structures, including the Fresno County Courthouse, felled in 1966.
“Fresno has been notorious for tearing buildings down,” said Robert Archuleta of the Fresno County Historical Society in 1998. “We’ve finally been able to not only save this one, but to restore it as well.”
Visitors who wish to venture back to Fresno’s past are able to tour the Meux Home Friday through Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. for a $10 fee.
Rene Paredes, a docent at the home, said leading tours there allows her to enjoy her passion for history. She teaches history at Lemoore College.
“I love the history, the clothing and the time period,” she said.
“The upstairs is gorgeous,” she added.
Confederate doctor’s home in Fresno
The Meux Home was built by Dr. Meux, a Tennessean who moved to Fresno after serving as a doctor in the Confederate Army. He believed that the dry Fresno climate would benefit his wife’s deteriorating health. Meux died in 1929, but the home stayed in the family until 1970, when his unmarried daughter Anne died.
A surviving grandson, Fresno attorney Pete Meux, was a longtime resident of the Fresno High neighborhood who died in 2007. Officials say there are no other descendants in the Fresno area.
The home was described as both in the “Eastlake Victorian” style and “Carpenter’s Gothic,” in Fresno Weekly Expositor archives written at the time of its construction.
It remains a monument to an earlier time that allows Fresnans to get a glimpse of that era, as well as a more intimate look at one of the city’s founding families. Inside is the military uniform of Dr. Meux, the wedding gown of his daughter Mary, along with furniture and artifacts of the era.
When it was completed in 1889, the Expositor called it “the most elaborate residence in Fresno,” and noted that it cost $12,000.
That would be $412,000 in 2024 dollars.
City of Fresno purchased Meux Home in 1973
Saving the home after the death of the last family member to live there was a close thing.
According to Fresno Bee archives, it was purchased by the City of Fresno in 1973. City building inspector Richard Johnson is credited by Fresno Bee archives as leading the effort, along with the Fresno County Historical Society. The city’s cost in 1973 was $55,000.
Union carpenters reportedly volunteered their labor to the restoration effort, but maintenance is an ongoing process. In 2010, Friends of Meux Home raised abut $20,000 for maintenance, according to The Fresno Bee.
In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police in 2020, the Fresno Historic Preservation Commission was asked to review the name of the home because of Thomas Meux’s service in the Confederacy.
No decision about a name change was reached, and city officials were not able to determine if any more recent discussions about the topic have taken place.
