Pela House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Pela House in Victoria County. Now, some houses just sit there. And then there are houses that can't make up their mind, and somehow end up being twice as interesting for it.

The Pela House, erected in 1884, is that second kind. On one hand, you've got your conservative Greek Revival, proper and composed: distinct bays, a center passage, pedimented windows, columns standing at attention like they've got somewhere important to be. On the other hand, somebody decided that wasn't quite enough.

So in came the Victorian elements, and not subtle ones. Unusual geometric railings running along a two-tiered porch. Greek Revival meets Victorian fancy, and the result is, the marker's own word, a striking hybrid of two very different architectural styles.

You don't see that every day out on a Texas road. Now, the house belonged to Silvain Pela, a French immigrant, and his wife Elizabeth, born a Meyer, a Swiss immigrant. Two people from two very different corners of the world, landing in Victoria County, and raising ten children inside those walls.

Ten. The Pela family, described as colorful, and you get the sense that word is doing some heavy lifting, put down roots that held. The family and their descendants remained in that home for more than a hundred years.

More than a hundred years in one house. The architectural styles couldn't agree, the founders came from different countries, and yet somehow everything about this place stuck. That's the Pela House for you.

What the marker says

Conservatively Greek Revival in its distinct bays, its center passage, pedimented windows, and columns, the Pela House was erected in 1884. Then-modern Victorian elements such as unusual geometric railings on a two-tiered porch make this house a striking hybrid of two very different architectural styles. Silvain Pela, a French immigrant, and his wife Elizabeth (Meyer) Pela, a Swiss immigrant, raised ten children within these walls. The colorful Pela family and their descendants remained in the home for more than 100 years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998