DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it my way. Back in 1887, a local contractor by the name of Charles Funk put up a house in Travis County — built it for John M. and Estelle Moore, and the whole project came in at two thousand dollars. Now, two thousand dollars in 1887 was nothing to sneeze at, and the house showed it.
Victorian design, the kind with all the flourishes a man of standing might want. And John M. Moore was certainly that — a former Texas legislator, a former district attorney, and at the time that house went up, he was serving as secretary of state for Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross.
Sul Ross, as folks knew him. So you've got a serious man, in a serious house, doing serious work. That much is settled.
But here's where the story takes a turn. In 1901, a woman named Laura A. E.
Flack — born Metz, married Flack — she purchased that house. And if John Moore gave the place its start, Laura Flack is the one who gave it its life. She had been born in 1836, which means she walked into that purchase at sixty-five years old, and she was just gettin' started.
A prominent Austin businesswoman who owned a number of buildings right there on Congress Avenue, Flack was not a woman who sat still. Come the nineteen twenties, she took that original Victorian design and modified it — added a two-story neo-classical revival porch that changed the whole character of the place. She lived there with her family, and she kept on living there, right up until her death in 1933.
Ninety-seven years on this earth. After she was gone, the house stayed in her family for another forty years. That's the Moore-Flack House — built for one chapter, transformed for another, and held onto like something worth keepin'.
What the marker says
Local contractor Charles Funk built this house for John M. and Estelle Moore in 1887 at a cost of $2,000. At that time John M. Moore (1853-1902), a former Texas legislator and district attorney, was secretary of state for Governor Lawrence Sullivan (Sul) Ross. Laura A. E. (Metz) Flack (1836-1933) purchased the house in 1901, and in the 1920s modified the original Victorian design with the addition of a two-story neo-classical revival porch. A prominent Austin businesswoman who owned a number of buildings on Congress Avenue, Flack lived here with her family until her death. The house remained in her family for another forty years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1984