Allen House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, in Falls County, there's a house that carries a certain kind of weight to it, the kind you feel before you even step up to the door. Built in 1911, this was the residence of Dr.

Walter Allen and his wife Netti, Netti being a Falconer by birth. And whoever designed this place was not thinking small. Greek Revival style, with a giant entablature, and holding that entablature up, paired massive Ionic columns.

Not one column per side. Paired. Massive.

The kind of columns that tell you somebody meant for this house to stand. And stand it did. The Allen family occupied that house all the way through 1956, generation by generation, the family holding on to what Walter and Netti had built.

Then Nettie Allen passed. The year after her death, her sister-in-law, Hazel Bennett Falconer, made a decision. She donated the house.

Not to a relative, not to a developer. She gave it to the community, to serve as a community and social center. Those columns that once framed the private life of one family now welcomed everybody.

That's the thing about a house built to last. Sometimes it outlives the family's walls and becomes something bigger. The Allen House has been doing exactly that ever since.

What the marker says

Built in 1911 as a residence for the family of Dr. Walter and Netti (Falconer) Allen, this Greek Revival style house features a giant entablature supported by paired massive Ionic columns. The house was occupied by members of the Allen family until 1956. The following year after Nettie Allen's death, her sister-in-law Hazel Bennett Falconer donated the house for use as a community and social center. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1991