Queen Victoria

John J. Welder Home carriage stone and gate post

I sort of gorged myself on Cuero...

...and for that, I must apologize, because there's a whole lot of great stuff(!) I got for the hour and a half or so I was there. If you are one of those EBiN readers who thinks "meh" or "wtf?" whenever you see the latest post is one of those 100-year-old-houses-ghost-signs-and-vintage-neon-signs-kind-of-posts, you may want to move along. Sorry, there's nothing to see here this go around. The rest of you should prepare to receive a face full of Cuero.

A Heights sampler

From the Texas Historical Commission's Historic and Architectural Resources of Houston Heights (written in the early 1980s):

One of the first planned suburbs in the state, Houston Heights has retained its architectural and civic identity to an unusual degree. This has been accomplished in spite of its location in one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. The Heights presents a Whitman's Sampler of turn-of-the-century architectural styles. Several notable late-Victorian mansions and substantial early 20th-century public, ecclesiastical, and commercial buildings serve as the anchors of the neighborhood. Nevertheless, the real strength of the Heights rests in its wide array of essentially vernacular, middle-class, and domestic architecture of the period 1893-1932.

The post wherein Miss Havisham meets Judge Stephen W. Blount

The 1897 Judge Stephen W. Blount House in Nacogdoches
In her autobiography, A Kind of Magic (1963), Edna Ferber compared Galveston, Texas, to wealthy spinster Miss Havisham, the "gray, mournful abandoned bride of Dickens' Great Expectations."

Island Relics, part 2: residential structures

There's a two-story Victorian there - can you see it?
Overwhelmed. That's the best word to describe how someone (such as myself) infatuated with turn-of-the-century Victorian architecture feels when down on Galveston. It's easy to become overwhelmed to the point of brain shutdown due to overstimulation. It is remarkable how many of the homes in the Silk Stocking District, and elsewhere, survived the 1900 Storm. After growing up on the Island, and seeing pictures such as these, I'm stunned and pleased to find so many of the old structures still around, and in many cases, renovated and restored. But as is more often the reality, these treasures end up like the Darragh House (its ghost is pictured above). So, let's celebrate those that which have, thus far, survived.

Two hours in Sherman

I found all but a couple of sixteen structures I'd mapped, as well as several additional other things I had not planned on. In chronological order (as I found them), a Herculean labor of love:

Overlooked Nacogdoches (part one)

1020 Durst Street, c. 1890s, Victorian

Seek and ye shall find (in the Rose City)

Arranged chronologically, as I found each site in Tyler:

Jenkins-Harvey Super Service Station and Garage, c. 1929, Art Deco; this place has also been known either as Firestone Auto Supply and Service Store or Griffin Auto Storage

On the sunny side of the street
(so grab your coat and snatch your hat):




Another shot of the 1955, Moderne Smith County Courthouse




Whitaker-McClendon House, c. 1880, Eastlake/Stick, Italianate; r. 1910, Classical Revival front porch


Williams-Anderson House, c. 1900, Queen Anne; I somehow found this place much more appealing than the preceding monster


Got this sign in the sun this time.




John B. Douglas House, c. 1873, Italianate, Second Empire
I'd planned on finding all of the previous structures, including the John B. Douglas House; I had not counted on the two homes on lots just to the right (left in my photos) of the Douglas House (sweet!). What a neighborhood this must have been (along Fannin Avenue):



310 South Fannin Avenue, c. 1885, Queen Anne

And unsuccessfully trying to hide from me:

306 South Fannin Avenue, c. 1885, Queen Anne
I was reminded of this place (similarly hidden and pink).

Mattress money in Sealy

Sealy, Texas



J.W. Johnston House, c. 1900 (Queen Anne Victorian)



The Haynes-Felcman House
This Queen Anne house was built in 1901-1902 for H. Schumacher. It was purchased in 1906 by Richard H. Haynes (1875-1942) who, with his father, founded the Haynes (Sealy) Mattress Company in 1909. Local confectionery store owner F. J. Felcman bought the property in 1927 and added on to the rear in 1929. (Texas Historical Commission medallion info)


The John Schier House, c. 1884 (Victorian)


The Borgel House, c. 1882 (Victorian)


The Moeckel-Hackbarth House, c. 1896 (Victorian)


The Glenn House, c. 1910 (Eclectic - unique in a town with so many Victorians)

Noble design

This is a classic example of design #4 from the pattern book Cottage Souvenir #2 - Revised and Enlarged, George F. Barber, architect. This is probably the house Barber designed for K. D. Lawrence in 1899, located on Noble Street in Electric Lovelady(land), Texas. Have you ever been? Have you ever been?

Austin historic sites

I was just recently in Austin and did a post about several vintage neon signs I was able to locate. The focus this time will be on structures (such as private residences) which are considered to be historic sites.

Sometimes I get to these historic sites and the sun is in a bad spot or trees obscure my view, as was the case with The Martin House, considered to be a significant example of a Late Victorian T-plan, one-story house, constructed in 1897, today invisible (and in a "rough" neighborhood):


or this, The Robinson-Macken House, c. 1876, French Second Empire/Italianate style:


I least I got a good glimpse from the side:

And if there isn't an issue with either the sun or trees, sometimes these old places are either gone or irreparably diminished by the time I get to them, like with The John Henry Brewer House, c. 1926:


Here is why this place is considered to be important (from the Texas Historical Commission Atlas narrative):

In early 1995 the house is in poor condition and under threat of demolition by the City of Austin. Despite its condition, the house retains a significant degree of integrity and may be repaired.

The John Henry and Minnie Tate Brewer House (1926) served as the principal and only remaining residence of the well-known Brewer family of East Austin. The Brewers played a significant role in the development of Austin's African- American community for most of the 20th century. Because of its proximity to Huston-Tillotson College, the Brewer House served as a reception area, center of social life, and occasionally dormitory. Moreover, John Mason Brewer, nationally recognized chronicler of African-American folklife and folklore, lived in the house at various times during his most productive teaching and writing years (1928- 1968). This is the only extant property closely associated with him.


So, this is why it is so nice when I have found a place, the sun/sky is good, I can work around the trees (if there are any), and it looks pretty much like it does in any old photographs I've seen of it, such as with The Covert House, a Queen Anne Victorian, estimated to have been built around 1898:

Nice, huh? And I found the presence of children's toys out front gave it strangely, yet pleasantly, a Victorian mood.

a side view in different light:



The Page-Gilbert House, c. 1895, Victorian


The Connelly-Yerwood House, c. 1904, Late Victorian/Queen Anne


Community Center, c. 1929-30, Mission/Spanish Revival


The Haynes-Delashwah House,
ca. 1890, Queen Anne/Eastlake Victorian


The Gilfillan House, c. 1905, Spanish style



La Casa de Suenos, c. 1947-53 (main house), Mexican-American folk art


The North-Evans Chateau
Begun as family residence by Mrs.Catherine North in 1847. Completed in style of a French chateau by Austin banker, Maj. Ira Evans, 1892.

The North Cottage, c. 1879, Italianate style


The Eugene Bremond House, c. 1874, Italianate Victorian


The Pierre Bremond House, c. 1880s, Queen Anne Victorian


The John Bremond House, c. 1886, French Second Empire style

The Bremonds must have been something, huh?

The J.P. Schneider Store, c. 1873, Commercial Victorian
This place may not look like much, but there it has been as the downtown area has completely changed around it for one hundred and thirty years. The Schneiders first had a store on this spot in 1870. Their personal residence was right across the street, which is where the busy Warehouse District is now.



The Daniel H. Caswell House,
c. 1900, Late Victorian/Colonial Revival/Chateauesque styles



The William T. Caswell House, c. 1906, Classical Revival


The William Braxton Barr House,
c. 1898, Queen Anne Victorian/Colonial Revival


House at 209 East 39th Street (my current desktop wallpaper)


and last, but not least:

The Col. Monroe M. Shipe House,
c. 1892, Swiss Chalet/Eastlake/Stick styles