DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, if you're rollin' through the Montrose neighborhood in Houston, you might catch yourself slowing down in front of a house that looks like it showed up to a Texas street and decided to be the most formal thing on the block. That would be the Link-Lee House, and it's been holding court since nineteen twelve.
Here's where it starts. A businessman named John Wiley Link had himself a vision — a whole new subdivision called Montrose, which he developed himself. And when you're the man behind an entire subdivision, you don't just throw up any old structure as the first home.
You call in the firm of Sanguinet, Staats and Barnes, you tell them to make it count, and you end up with the very first home completed in the Montrose subdivision. First one in. Set the tone before the neighbors even had neighbors.
The house is what architects call Neoclassical — and once you see it, the label makes all the sense in the world. There's a pronounced portico out front, the kind that announces your arrival before you even knock. The brickwork is elaborate, the terra cotta ornamentation is flat-out ornate.
This building was not shy about itself. Four years after Link moved in, an oilman by the name of Thomas P. Lee purchased it for his family.
That was nineteen sixteen. And Lee wasn't content to just inherit someone else's vision — by nineteen twenty-two he brought in Houston architect Alfred Finn to make several alterations. So now you've got two ambitious men and one very distinguished house.
Thirty years later, in nineteen forty-six, the house was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Galveston. And then, the very next year — nineteen forty-seven — the University of St. Thomas opened, and that house has been serving the university ever since.
First home in the subdivision. More than a century later, it's still there, still standing tall with that portico and that brickwork, now watching over a university instead of a single family. Some buildings just know how to stick around.
What the marker says
Constructed in 1912 for businessman John Wiley Link, this building was designed by the firm of Sanguinet, Staats & Barnes and was the first home completed in the Montrose subdivision, which Link developed. Oilman Thomas P. Lee purchased it for his family in 1916 and in 1922 had Houston architect Alfred Finn make several alterations. An exceptional example of Neoclassical architecture, the Link-Lee house features a pronounced portico, elaborate brickwork and ornate terra cotta ornamentation. Sold to the Catholic Diocese of Galveston in 1946, it has served the University of St. Thomas since the school opened in 1947. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2001