Hasskarl House-"Far View"

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place, so take it for what it is, the record, straight from the stone. Now, when a man names his house Far View, you can bet he earned that name the honest way. Dr.

Walter F. Hasskarl, born in 1885, came out to this site in Washington County and looked around. What he saw convinced him on the spot.

Impressive views. That was enough. He bought the land.

But Dr. Hasskarl wasn't the kind of man to throw up just any house on a beautiful piece of ground. He went and got Alfred C.

Finn, a noted Houston architect, to design the thing. And for the building itself, he brought in a local contractor by the name of J. R.

Nix. Between the three of them, they put something together in 1925 that people are still talking about. What Finn drew up was a genuine blend.

On one hand, you've got Prairie School influence, which means horizontal composition and broad eaves, the kind of lines that hug the earth and stretch out like they've got all the time in the world. On the other hand, you've got classical style coming through in the arched loggia, the terrace, the screenwork. Two schools of thought, one house, and somehow it works.

Now here's the part that tells you something about the man who lived in it. Dr. Hasskarl served as Washington County Health Officer for fifty-one years.

Fifty-one years. One county. One calling.

He passed in 1965, and the house stayed in the Hasskarl family all the way until 1992. Far View, they called it. Turns out that was true in more ways than one.

What the marker says

Impressive views led Dr. Walter F. Hasskarl (1885-1965) to buy this site. Noted Houston architect Alfred C. Finn designed and local contractor J. R. Nix built this house in 1925. It presents a blend of Prairie School influence (horizontal composition and broad eaves) and the classical style (arched loggia, terrace, and screenwork). Dr. Hasskarl served as Washington County Health Officer for 51 years. The house remained in the Hasskarl family until 1992.