Clarence and Lorraine Eakle House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Clarence and Lorraine Eakle House in Potter County. Now settle in, because this one's about a house that's been standing on the Texas Panhandle since 1925, and it's got a story worth telling right. It starts with three names you ought to know.

Guy Carlander, noted Amarillo architect. Byron Singleton, the builder who put it all together. And two early Amarillo business and civic leaders, Clarence and Lorraine Eakle, the folks who wanted a home worthy of all that Panhandle sky.

In 1925, Carlander drew it up and Singleton built it, and what they raised together was something. The house came out in the Tudor Revival style, which out here on the high plains already turns a few heads. You've got an arched entry portico, the kind that makes a visitor stop and look twice before they even knock.

You've got an eyebrow dormer peeking out from the roofline like the house itself is watching the street. And then there's the stone. Carlander had a distinctive touch when it came to Alibates flint stone, quarried near what is today Alibates National Monument.

That stone has been in this part of Texas a long time, and Carlander knew exactly what it could do on the face of a well-built house. So there it stands, Tudor Revival bones dressed in ancient Panhandle flint, right there in Amarillo. The Eakle family kept it.

Kept it and kept it. The house remained in the Eakle family until 1992. That's the kind of holding-on that speaks for itself.

Some houses pass through hands like water. This one, the Eakles held onto for the better part of the twentieth century. Guy Carlander designed it.

Byron Singleton built it. Clarence and Lorraine Eakle made it a home. And that Alibates flint is still there on the walls, same as it ever was.

What the marker says

Noted Amarillo architect Guy Carlander designed and Byron Singleton built this house in 1925 for early Amarillo business and civic leaders Clarence and Lorraine Eakle. The house exhibits elements of the Tudor Revival style and features an arched entry portico, eyebrow dormer, and Carlander's distinctive use of Alibates flint stone quarried near present-day Alibates National Monument. The house remained in the Eakle Family until 1992. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1994.