Lockhart House

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna let this one breathe a little. You're looking at a Queen Anne house in Galveston County, and it's got a history that's layered just like the house itself, literally. The first portion of this place was built before 1889, starting life as a modest one-story cottage.

Simple enough. But around 1894, somebody decided modest wasn't going to cut it anymore. That somebody was William B.

Lockhart, born in 1860, and the house was his at the time. Now here's the part that makes you stop and think about what ambition looks like when it's applied to architecture. They didn't tear the old cottage down.

They didn't start fresh. They raised it. The original one-story section got lifted up to become the second floor, and a brand new ground floor was added underneath it.

The old became the top, and the new became the foundation. There's probably a metaphor in there somewhere, but the marker doesn't offer one, so I'll just let that sit. William B.

Lockhart was no ordinary man of property. He was a son-in-law of Walter Gresham, the builder of the Bishop's Palace, and Lockhart himself went on to become a prominent justice of both county and federal courts. The house passed to his son, John W.

Lockhart, born in 1891 and died in 1971, and John was no stranger to the bench either. Also a noted judge. Two generations, one house, two courtrooms worth of consequence.

That cottage that started before 1889 ended up holding a lot of Texas law under its roof.

What the marker says

The first portion of this Queen Anne house was built before 1889 as a one-story cottage. About 1894, during the ownership of William B. Lockhart (1860-1923), it was enlarged by raising the original section to the second floor and adding a new ground floor. A son-in-law of Walter Gresham, builder of the Bishop's Palace, Lockhart became a prominent justice of county and federal courts. The house was later owned by his son John W. Lockhart (1891-1971), also a noted judge. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981