H. P. Luckett House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the H. P. Luckett House in Bastrop County.

Pull up a chair, because this one's got layers. Before there was a house here at all, there was a school. Bastrop Academy operated on this very lot from 1851 all the way to 1892, which is a good long run for any institution.

But when the academy's time was done, the city sold the lot, and that's when Dr. Humphrey Powell Luckett entered the picture. Dr.

Luckett, born in 1847, and his wife Frances, known to everyone as Fannie, born in 1849 and a Haynie by family, had married and come to Bastrop together in 1869. They raised five sons in this town. By late 1893, they were ready to build something worthy of all that, and they brought in a man named Louis G.

Mauer, an architect out of La Grange, to design their home. Now, Dr. Luckett was no ordinary country doctor.

He was recognized as an authority on yellow fever, which in that era was about as serious a credential as medicine offered. In 1897 the city named him Health Officer, which tells you something about the regard Bastrop held for the man. The house Mauer designed is Queen Anne style, and it does not whisper.

Fourteen rooms. A colorful facade. Double wraparound galleries dressed with turned balusters and posts.

Jigsawn brackets. Fishscale shingles on the exterior and carved woodwork within. It is, in a word, a statement.

The Lucketts lived their lives inside that statement, and after they were gone, in 1936, their heirs sold the house to Alex and Lucille Waugh. The Waughs raised four children in the downstairs rooms while renting out apartments above, which is a practical kind of poetry. One family's legacy becomes the roof over several more.

That's Bastrop for you. A school becomes a lot, a lot becomes a doctor's grand house, and a grand house becomes a home for generations who never even knew the man who built it. But they lived inside his taste every single day.

What the marker says

H. P. LUCKETT HOUSE BASTROP ACADEMY OPERATED HERE FROM 1851 TO 1892. THE CITY THEN SOLD THE LOT TO DR. HUMPHREY POWELL LUCKETT (1847-1925) AND HIS WIFE, FRANCES "FANNIE" (HAYNIE) (1849-1930). THE COUPLE MARRIED AND MOVED TO BASTROP IN 1869, RAISING FIVE SONS. BY LATE 1893, THEIR HOME DESIGNED BY LA GRANGE ARCHITECT LOUIS G. MAUER WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. DR. LUCKETT, AN AUTHORITY ON YELLOW FEVER, WAS NAMED CITY HEALTH OFFICER IN 1897. IN 1936, HEIRS SOLD THE HOUSE TO ALEX AND LUCILLE WAUGH, WHO RAISED FOUR CHILDREN DOWNSTAIRS WHILE RENTING APARTMENTS ABOVE. THE QUEEN ANNE-STYLE HOUSE INCLUDES 14 ROOMS, A COLORFUL FAÇADE, DOUBLE WRAPAROUND GALLERIES WITH TURNED BALUSTERS AND POSTS, JIGSAWN BRACKETS, FISHSCALE SHINGLES, AND CARVED INTERIOR WOODWORK. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2011