Dr. William Taylor Hoard House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it straight along to you. Now, McKinney, Texas has got more than its share of fine old homes, but every now and then you roll past one that makes you slow down and take a second look. This is the story of one of those houses.

Dr. William Taylor Hoard arrived in McKinney in 1898, a dentist with an eye for civic life and, as it turns out, an eye for architecture too. He'd been born in 1873, and he'd go on to live until 1945, but right now we're focused on what he built in 1907; right here on this lot.

And what he built was something worth talking about. The house draws on the prairie school, colonial revival, and American foursquare styles, which already sounds like a man who couldn't quite make up his mind, except the result is a home that earns every one of those influences. You've got a Sullivanesque frieze running underneath the eaves, which is the kind of ornamental detail that whispers of Louis Sullivan's influence without shouting about it.

Then there are fluted Corinthian columns standing their ground up front, fish scale and regular shingled bands working their way across the exterior, and stained glass transoms catching whatever light McKinney cares to offer on any given afternoon. It's a lot of house, is what it is. And it stayed a Hoard family house for a good long while; all the way until 1971, when it finally passed out of the family's hands.

The marker also tells us that Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Picken took on the work of restoring it, and given what's standing here today, that was work worth doin'.

Some houses just insist on surviving, and this one had help making sure it did.

What the marker says

Dr. William Taylor Hoard (1873-1945) moved to McKinney in 1898. A dentist and civic leader, he built this house in 1907. Exhibiting elements of the prairie school, colonial revival, and American foursquare styles of architecture, the home features a sullivanesque frieze under the eaves, fluted Corinthian columns, fish scale and regular shingled bands, and stained glass transoms. The home remained in the Hoard Family until 1971. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1987 Incise on base: Restored by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Picken