DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, far as I can make out. Now, this particular stretch of Travis County has got some serious history packed into it — we're talkin' a house that's been touched by the hands of some real significant Texans, going all the way back to the days when the Republic was still fresh in people's memories. The property here starts its story in 1854, when a local Austin merchant and land speculator by the name of L.D.
Carrington — born 1816, died 1897 — bought this land and the surrounding outlots for his family farm. And who'd he buy it from? Hannah Burnet.
Her maiden name was Este, and she lived from 1800 to 1858. Now, Hannah wasn't just anybody. She was the wife of David G.
Burnet — born 1788, died 1870 — the first president of the Republic of Texas. So before Carrington ever broke ground, this ground already had some weight to it. Carrington held onto the property, and sometime in the 1880s, a house went up on it.
That house is still standing today, and that right there ought to make you slow down a little. But the story doesn't stop with Carrington. The look you'd recognize today took shape later, through two separate owners over two separate eras.
First came Charles Morrison — born 1875, died 1966 — who took on a remodel in 1911. Then, in the nineteen-twenties and thirties, a man named Joseph O'Reilly — born 1857, died 1937 — added a second story on top of it all. Layer by layer, decade by decade, the thing kept growin'.
What you've got now is what they call a vernacular house — a modified hip roof, gable ends facin' south and east, square columns holdin' up the south porch. And here's the detail that always gets me: the wavy glass on the upper pane of that front door. Still there.
Consistent with 19th century trends, the marker says. A piece of glass that old, wavy with age, and you're lookin' through it at the same general world that Hannah Burnet once looked out over. That's the kind of thing that makes a road trip worth takin'.
What the marker says
In 1854, local Austin merchant and land speculator, L.D. Carrington (1816-1897), bought this property and the surrounding outlots for his family farm from Hannah (Este) Burnet (1800-1858), wife of the first president of the Republic of Texas, David G. Burnet (1788-1870), and built a house in the 1880s. The present appearance dates to the 1911 remodel by owner Charles Morrison (1875-1966) and the 1920s and 1930s second story addition by owner Joseph O’Reilly (1857-1937). This vernacular house has a modified hip roof with south and east facing gable ends. Square columns on the south porch and the wavy glass on the upper pane of the front door are consistent with 19th century trends. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2018