Lenert House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Now, La Grange, Fayette County, has no shortage of fine old homes, but every now and then you pull up to one that makes you slow the truck down and just look. The Lenert House is one of those.

Albert Charles Lenert was born in 1841, and his wife Amelia in 1853. Both of them had made the crossing from Germany as children, and both of them ended up right here in Fayette County. By 1894, Albert and Amelia had made their move to La Grange, and they built this home for their family.

Now, when I say they built a home, I want you to understand what that means in the high Victorian Italianate style, because this is not your plain board-and-batten farmhouse. This frame structure has symmetrical front massing, an inset central porch, and then, just when you think you've got it figured out, there's a side porch with a Moorish arcade. A Moorish arcade, right here in Fayette County, Texas.

And on top of that, fine milled detail throughout. Albert passed in 1902. Amelia lived until 1952.

And that house the two of them built together stayed in the Lenert family all the way until 1979. Nearly a century of one family, one home, one piece of La Grange. Some things are worth slowin' down for.

What the marker says

Albert Charles Lenert (1841-1902) and his wife Amelia (1853-1952), both of whom immigrated to Fayette County from Germany as children, moved to La Grange in 1894 and built this home for their family. A fine example of high Victorian Italianate style, the frame structure features symmetrical front massing, an inset central porch, a side porch with Moorish arcade, and fine milled detail. The home remained in the Lenert family until 1979. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1987