DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, the way I heard it on the road. Now, some houses just sit there on a lot, minding their business. And then there are houses that announce themselves — houses that say, friend, you are going to look at me whether you planned to or not.
The Maxwell-Liston House in Tarrant County is that second kind. Charles W. Maxwell built this place in 1904.
And this wasn't some man who hired out the vision and stepped back to wait. Maxwell was a contractor and a carpenter by trade, which means he understood wood the way a musician understands time. He knew exactly what he was building.
What he was building was a late Queen Anne style residence, and he did not do it halfway. He lived here with his wife, Katie, and the house had that corner turret — you know the kind, the kind that makes a home look like it has opinions. It had a wraparound porch, the sort of porch that invites a long conversation and discourages you from leaving too early.
And up in the front gables, wreath and scroll decorative work, the kind of detail that takes time, that says someone cared about the thing they were making. Maxwell and Katie were here until 1907. Then the home was sold to James Liston.
The Liston family held onto this place — held onto it tight — all the way until 1941. That's nearly four decades that one family called it home. Charles Maxwell was born in 1850 and died in 1912.
James Liston died in 1917. The house that outlasted them both still carries the names of both men. A turret, a porch, some wreath and scroll in the gables — and more than a century later, people are still pulling over to look.
Some houses, they just have a way of holding on.
What the marker says
This late Queen Anne style residence was built in 1904 by Charles W. Maxwell (1850-1912). A contractor and carpenter by trade, Maxwell lived here with his wife, Katie, until 1907. The home then was sold to James Liston (d. 1917), and it remained in the Liston Family until 1941. Elements of the Queen Anne style represented in the Maxwell-Liston House include the corner turret, the wraparound porch, and the wreath and scroll decorative work in the front gables. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1985.