Daniel-Harris Home

Duane's take

Here's the story as the marker tells it, straight off the official Texas Historical Commission inscription for the Daniel-Harris Home in Hood County. Pull up a chair; this one's got layers. We're talkin' saloonkeepers, undertakers, and a tower that still stands proud over Granbury like it's darin' you to look away.

Robert Randolph Daniel came into this world in 1864, and by the time he was makin' his mark in Granbury, he was doin' it as both a merchant and a saloonkeeper, a man who, apparently, could sell you just about anything you needed, day or night. Around 1892, he had this house built. And when Robert Randolph Daniel decided to build a house, he wasn't interested in modest.

He went Victorian. He went Italianate. He went Eastlake.

He went ornate square tower. He went intricate ornamentation. He went, in short, all the way.

Now here's where the story takes one of those turns that only a real Texas town can hand you. In 1899, the house was sold. The man who bought it was Wesley Smith Harris, born 1854, and by 1899 a prominent local figure in Granbury.

His trade? Furniture dealer. And undertaker.

Think about that combination for just a moment. The man who could furnish your parlor could also, when the time came, see you off from it. Wesley Smith Harris lived on in this world until 1930, and this house stood through all of it, through the turn of the century, through the ornate fashions that gave it life, right on through to today.

That tower, those details, that Victorian silhouette: the marker calls it representative of the elegant turn-of-the-century homes of Granbury, and standing in front of it, it's not hard to see why. Some houses just refuse to be forgotten. This is one of 'em.

What the marker says

Early Granbury merchant and saloonkeeper Robert Randolph Daniel (1864-1918) had this house built about 1892. In 1899 it was sold to Wesley Smith Harris (1854-1930), a prominent local furniture dealer and undertaker. Representative of elegant turn-of-the-century homes in Granbury, the victorian residence reflects influences of the italianate and eastlake styles and features an ornate square tower and intricate ornamentation.