Gerhard-Schoch House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Gerhard-Schoch House in Travis County. Now settle in, because this one's about a house that's been holding its ground in Austin for a long, long time. It starts with a merchant.

Philip Henry Gerhard, born in 1850, had a vision for himself and his wife Lena, and in 1887 he put that vision into the hands of a contractor named Herman S. Love. What Love built for them was said to be the first two-story brick veneer home in all of Austin.

Let that land for a second. Every city has a first of something, and somebody got to live in it. The Gerhards were that somebody.

And apparently once they had it, they decided it needed to be bigger, because in 1891 they enlarged it. Well, when you've got the finest house in town, you might as well make it a little finer. Philip Henry Gerhard passed in 1906, but the house he'd commissioned kept standing, kept breathing, kept belonging to the family.

His daughter Clara and her husband, Dr. Eugene Paul Schoch, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Texas, and not just any professor but an eminent one, the marker makes sure you know that, inherited the homestead and moved in during 1912. Dr.

Schoch had been born in 1871 and would live all the way to 1961, meaning that house saw him through a remarkable stretch of Texas history. And then something rarer still happened. Since 1955, three later generations have lived in and preserved the Gerhard House.

Not sold it off. Not torn it down. Preserved it.

A merchant's dream, built by a contractor's hands, handed down through daughters and professors and children after them. Some houses outlast their builders. This one outlasted just about everything else too.

What the marker says

Merchant Philip Henry Gerhard (1850-1906) and wife Lena had this house built by contractor Herman S. Love in 1887. It was said to be first 2-story brick veneer home in Austin; it was enlarged in 1891. The Gerhards" daughter Clara and her husband, eminent University of Texas chemical engineering professor Dr. Eugene Paul Schoch (1871-1961), inherited and moved into the homestead in 1912. Since 1955 three later generations have lived in and preserved Gerhard House. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1974