DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, in Houston, there's a house that carries two families in its bones — and it's been standing long enough to earn a little reverence. The Myer-Hall House.
Let me walk you through it. The year is 1910, and a noted architectural firm — Sanguinet and Staats, a name that carried real weight in those days — designs a home for Sterling Myer, prominent Houston attorney, civic leader, and by all accounts a man who knew how to commission a house. His wife Alice, born a Bentley, would have moved through those rooms when the plaster was still new and the half timbering still smelled of ambition.
Now, a Tudor Revival in Houston — that's a statement. Two-and-a-half stories reaching up under two steeply pitched, forward-facing gables. Two wings stretching out to either side: a sunroom to the east catching the morning light, and a porte-cochere to the west so you could arrive in style without getting rained on.
A full-width porch out front, held up by square columns, brick and plaster and half timbering spelling out in no uncertain terms that somebody here meant business. Then comes the 1920s, and the house changes hands. Engineer and businessman James Donald Hall and his wife Virginia — born a Dorrance — purchase the home.
And here's the part that settles into you: they didn't treat it like a stop along the way. James Donald and Virginia Hall lived in that house for forty years. Forty years of seasons turning in that sunroom.
Forty years of arrivals under that porte-cochere. Two families. One house.
Still standing.
What the marker says
Noted architectural firm Sanguinet and Staats designed this 1910 house for prominent Houston attorney and civic leader, Sterling Myer, and his wife Alice (Bentley). In the 1920s, engineer and businessman James Donald Hall and his wife, Virginia (Dorrance), purchased the home; they lived here forty years. The two-and-one-half story Tudor Revival structure features two steeply pitched, forward-facing gables and two wings: a sunroom to the east and a porte-cochere to the west. The home is detailed with brick, plaster, and half timbering, and includes a full width porch supported by square columns. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2011