Christian-Matern House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some houses just sit there on a lot, minding their business. And then there are houses that seem to collect history the way a front porch collects a summer evening.

The Christian-Matern House in Marble Falls, Burnet County, is that second kind. Let me walk you through it. Juliet Johnson, daughter of the very founder of Marble Falls, married a man named George Christian in 1887.

And George was no idle fellow. He was one of ten owners of the Texas Mining and Improvement Company, the outfit that actually developed the town. In fact, that same year, 1887, the first town lots in Marble Falls were sold.

So you've got the founder's daughter, married to one of the ten men building the town up from scratch. That is not a coincidence the marker mentions lightly. Then, in 1892, this house was built for the Christians.

A fine late Victorian-era house, the marker calls it, with Queen Anne style influences, decorative woodwork, and those protruding bay windows that catch your eye from the street. The kind of craftsmanship that says someone meant this place to last. And last it did.

In 1908, Ivo B. and Mina Matern bought the house, and here is the part that earns a slow nod. They owned it for fifty-one years. Fifty-one years in one house.

Ivo Matern was a merchant and a rancher, and in 1937 he also served as mayor of Marble Falls. So under one roof, across the decades, you've got commerce, cattle, civic life, and all that Victorian woodwork holding it together. Some houses just know how to pick their people.

What the marker says

Juliet Johnson, daughter of the founder of Marble Falls, married George Christian in 1887. He was one of ten owners of the Texas Mining & Improvement Company that developed the town. The first town lots were sold in 1887, and in 1892 this house was built for the Christians. Ivo B. and Mina Matern bought the house in 1908 and owned it for 51 years. Ivo Matern, a merchant and rancher, also served as mayor of Marble Falls in 1937. A fine late Victorian-era house, it exhibits Queen Anne style influences including decorative woodwork and protruding bay windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996