Old Home of Pioneer Banker A. B. Scarborough

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, out here in Fannin County, there stands a house that doesn't just sit on its lot, it makes a statement. Built in 1897, this was the old home of pioneer banker A.

B. Scarborough, and from the moment you lay eyes on it, you understand that whoever put this place up was not thinking small. Not even a little bit.

The architecture is what they call Victorian Romanesque, but that label barely covers it. This house pulls from Gothic, Grecian, and seventeenth century features all at once, arches and balconies, a cupola reaching skyward, turrets, gables. The word massive appears on the marker, and honestly, that word is doing some real work.

You've got styles from across centuries and continents all converging on one piece of Fannin County land, and somehow it holds together. Now, a house like that could easily have been swallowed by time, the way so many grand old Texas homes have been. But in 1937, a man named Joe C.

Denton bought the property, and here's where the story turns. He preserved it. Not flipped it, not razed it for something newer and cheaper.

Preserved it. Because of that decision, what A. B.

Scarborough built in 1897 is still standing today, turrets, cupola, and all. Some buildings just refuse to be forgotten, and some people make sure of it.

What the marker says

Built 1897. The massive architecture combines Gothic, Grecian and 17th century features in arches, balconies, cupola, turrets, gables. An example of Victorian Romanesque, bought 1937 and preserved by Joe C. Denton. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966