DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it my way. Out here in the Manor community of Travis County, there stands a house that does not whisper — it announces itself. Turreted corners reaching skyward, a massive portico planted out front like it's daring you to walk past without stopping.
This is the Bloor House, and it has been a landmark in these parts for well over a century. Alfred Sutton Bloor was a local rancher and farmer, born in 1850, a native of Pennsylvania who found his place in Texas soil. His wife Martha, born a Wainwright in 1849, also came out of Pennsylvania.
Together they decided, toward the end of the nineteenth century, that it was time to build something worthy of the land they'd worked. In 1897 and 1898, they did exactly that. Now, they didn't just throw up four walls and call it done.
They brought in the Elgin Press Brick Co. to do the constructing, and whoever drew up the plans had a clear sense of ambition. The house pulls from two distinct architectural traditions — Queen Anne and Colonial Revival — and the result is something that earns a long look. Those turreted corners give it a character you don't easily forget, and that portico, massive as the marker itself calls it, frames the whole structure like a statement.
Alfred didn't live long enough to see the house age into legend — he died in 1899, just a year or two after the walls went up. Martha, though, lived on until 1928, and the house stayed in Bloor family hands for decades beyond even that, all the way until 1960. Sixty-some years of one family, one name, one home holding its ground in the Manor community.
That's not just a house. That's a presence.
What the marker says
Local rancher and farmer Alfred Sutton Bloor (1850-1899) and his wife Martha (Wainwright) (1849-1928), natives of Pennsylvania, built this home in 1897-98. Constructed by the Elgin Press Brick Co., the house features characteristics of the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. Outstanding features include the turreted corners and the massive portico. A landmark in the Manor community, the house remained in the ownership of the Bloor family until 1960. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982