Kaulbach Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Kaulbach Home in Fayette County. Now, some buildings just sit on their lots, minding their business. And then there are buildings that make a statement.

In 1885, an insurance agent by the name of H. B. Kaulbach decided he had something to say.

Kaulbach, who lived from 1839 to 1919, commissioned architect C. Michaelis to design him a home, and what Michaelis delivered was pure Victorian intention. Two stories tall, with a columnar gallery running along it, graceful arches carried by thin, turned columns.

The kind of place that makes you slow down when you drive past. Now here's the part that most folks don't think about when they look at a grand old house like this one. Kaulbach didn't start from scratch.

Five rooms from a structure previously standing on that very site were folded right into the new construction. So the building you see carries something older inside it, quietly, the way a good story carries the ones that came before it. C.

Michaelis drew the plans, Kaulbach paid for the vision, and together they left Fayette County something worth stopping for. That house has been standing since 1885, and it's still standing. Some statements, it turns out, are built to last.

What the marker says

Built 1885 by H. B. Kaulbach (1839-1919), insurance agent. The Victorian style exhibits two-story columnar gallery, graceful arches supported by thin, turned columns. This structure includes 5 rooms of house previously on site. Architect was C. Michaelis. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968.