DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Addcox House in Travis County. Now settle in, because this one's about a house that does most of its own talkin'. It started in 1935, built for a woman named Mary Susie Sheedy.
And right away, this house began movin' around — not literally, mind you, but it changed hands three times before somebody finally came along who'd keep it for good. That somebody was Charles J. Addcox, a University of Texas electrician, and his wife Addie Lee, a homemaker and nursery school operator.
They purchased it in 1944, and from that point on, the house had a name worth rememberin'. Folks started callin' it the Red Rock House on the Corner. Now, that name didn't come from nowhere.
See, this structure is what you'd call extraordinary eclectic — and that's not just a polite way of sayin' unusual. The walls of this house were crafted with mixed stone and brick veneer, and when you start lookin' at what's actually in those walls, well, that's where the story gets real interesting. Petrified wood.
Limestone. Honeycomb rock. Volcanic rock.
Quartz crystal. Fossilized shells. And flint.
All of it worked into the external walls of a single house on a corner in Travis County, Texas. You've got materials that came from ancient seas, from volcanic fire, from forests that turned to stone long before anybody was around to call anything anything. And somebody gathered all of that up and built four walls out of it.
Then, as if the walls weren't enough to stop you in your tracks, there's the wraparound porch — finished with arched brick supports that give the whole thing a kind of sturdy elegance you don't expect until you're standin' right in front of it. Charles and Addie Lee Addcox put their name on that house, and the house put its mark right back. Some buildings are just structures.
This one's a statement. Built in 1935, settled in 1944, and still standin' there on its corner — petrified wood, quartz crystal, fossilized shells and all — darin' you to walk past without lookin' twice.
What the marker says
Built in 1935 for Mary Susie Sheedy, this house changed hands three times before being purchased by University of Texas electrician Charles J. Addcox and his wife, Addie Lee, a homemaker and nursery school operator, in 1944. It became known as the "Red Rock House on the Corner." An extraordinary eclectic structure, the house was crafted with mixed stone and brick veneer. The external walls feature petrified wood, limestone, honeycomb rock, volcanic rock, quartz crystal, fossilized shells and flint. Also of note is the wraparound porch with arched brick supports. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999