Holman House

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the Holman House in Matagorda County. William Shields Holman had already done a few things worth noting before he ever broke ground on this place. He'd served in the Spanish-American War.

He'd gone on to become Matagorda County judge, a post he held from 1908 to 1914. And right there at the start of that tenure, in 1908 and into 1909, he and his wife Louise, born a Kaulbach, decided to build themselves a house worthy of the life they'd made. Now, a man of that standing wasn't going to throw something together himself.

He hired a designer named A.W. Large to draw it up, and a contractor by the name of H. Speckles to bring it to life.

What they built together is what folks who study these things would call Queen Anne styling, and friend, Queen Anne does not do anything halfway. The house comes at you asymmetrical, meaning no two parts quite mirror each other, which gives it a kind of restless, watchful energy even standing still. The roofscape is elaborate, the sort of thing you find yourself studying from the street longer than you planned.

There's a corner tower. There's a wraparound porch. And the wall surfaces shift texture as your eye moves across them, like the building itself can't decide which handsome thing to show you next.

The Holmans built it, lived in it, and kept it. Generation after generation, it stayed in the family, all the way until 1978. Nearly seven decades of one name on one house.

That kind of staying power is its own kind of story, and the house is still there to tell it.

What the marker says

Spanish-American war veteran and Matagorda county judge (1908-1914) William Shields Holman and his wife Louise (Kaulbach) built this house in 1908-09. Designed by A.W. Large and constructed by contractor H. Speckles, the house is an excellent example of queen anne styling. It features asymmetrical composition, an elaborate roofscape, corner tower, wraparound porch, and varying textures on its wall surfaces. It remained in the Holman family until 1978. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1994