DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'm takin' it straight from the source. Luther Bynum Clegg came a long way to leave his mark on San Antonio. Born in North Carolina in 1873, he made his way to Texas and founded the San Antonio Printing Company.
A man who built his business with ink and type apparently knew a thing or two about fine craftsmanship in other areas of life as well, because when it came time to build a home, Clegg didn't just hire any architect. He commissioned Harvey Page. Now Page was born in 1859, and by the time Clegg came calling, the man had a reputation worth the calling.
Clegg set him to work in 1901 and 1902, and what rose from that collaboration was something Page himself would later look back on and characterize as one of his most interesting residences. One of his most interesting. That's not a throwaway compliment from an architect.
That's a man who'd seen his own work and knew which pieces had something extra in them. The house stood, and it changed hands as houses do. In 1925, Roy M.
Bitel purchased the property from Clegg. And here's where the story folds back on itself in a satisfying way. Page, the original architect, is believed to have returned to remodel the structure after Bitel took ownership.
The man who designed it apparently wasn't finished with it. Then in 1937, Mrs. Josephine Haltom Henning acquired the property.
Luther Bynum Clegg, for his part, lived until 1955. Harvey Page had died in 1934. But the house remained, carrying the mark of an architect who called it one of his most interesting, and a North Carolina native who knew enough to ask him to build it.
What the marker says
A native of North Carolina, Luther Bynum Clegg (1873-1955) founded the San Antonio Printing Company. He commissioned noted architect Harvey Page (1859-1934) to design this house in 1901-02. Page later characterized the residence as one of his most interesting. Page is believed to have remodeled the structure after Roy M. Bitel purchased it from Clegg in 1925. Mrs. Josephine Haltom Henning acquired the property in 1937.