Albert & Katie Van Hook House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm going to tell it to you. Around 1880, somewhere in Harrison County, Texas, a father did what fathers with exceptional talent sometimes do. He picked up his drafting tools and went to work, not for a client, not for a fee, but for his daughter.

N. S. Allen, an architect who had spent forty years designing important homes and businesses over in Shreveport, put all of that skill into one wedding present for Katie Allen and her new husband, Albert Van Hook.

A house. Designed by her own father. Now that is a gift with some weight to it.

The man knew what he was doing. The structure followed a modified L-plan, and Allen dressed it up properly. Italianate details at the gable ends.

Double chimneys. And up top, a widow's walk, that little platform perched on the roof where, legend has it, you could stand and watch the horizon for as long as you cared to look. It was a handsome piece of work, the kind of building that says something about the person who drew it.

The Van Hook family held onto that house for a long time. It stayed in the family all the way through the 1950s, which tells you something too. A house built as a wedding present, kept close for generations.

Then time does what time does. Features fade, porches sag, trim loses its fine edges. But in the 1990s, somebody decided that wasn't the end of the story.

A renovation project came along and brought back what the years had worn down, the porch, the gingerbread trim, the bay window. All those outstanding features N. S.

Allen drew into that house for his daughter, restored and standing again. Some presents, it turns out, are worth keeping.

What the marker says

Built about 1880 as a wedding present for Katie (Allen) and Albert Van Hook, this house was designed by Katie's father, architect N. S. Allen. Allen designed many of the important homes and businesses of Shreveport for forty years. The modified L-plan structure originally featured Italianate details at the gable ends, a widow's walk and double chimneys. It remained in the Van Hook family until the 1950s. A renovation project in the 1990s restored many of the home's outstanding features, including the porch, gingerbread trim and bay window. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999