DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, some houses in Austin have a story — and then there's the house that Nellie Wylie Holden built. The year was 1913, and Nellie, born in 1863, wasn't just putting up four walls and a roof.
Tradition holds that her own children had a hand in working with noted architect Hugo F. Kuehne on the design — a Georgian Revival house, and not a modest one. You walk up to this place and it announces itself: sidelights framing the door, a fanlight arching overhead, paired Doric columns standing at attention, and Flemish bond brickwork that says somebody was paying close attention to every last detail.
The bones of that original build are still there, still original, still speaking. Now, Nellie wasn't just a woman who knew good architecture. She was an Austin philanthropist, deep in civic and charitable organizations, the kind of person a city leans on without always saying thank you.
Then, in 1917, she wed Alexander Penn Wooldridge — prominent Austin mayor, born in 1847 — and the house took on the name history has given it: the Penn and Nellie Wooldridge House. Around 1930, a rear porch was added. Later, in the 1960s, a garage apartment and a connecting breezeway joined the picture.
But those are the only major additions. Everything else? Still Nellie's house, still Kuehne's design, still 1913 down to the brickwork.
Nellie lived long enough to see a lot of Austin change — she wasn't born until 1863 and didn't pass until 1944 — but in 1943, just a year before the end, she sold the place. The house outlasted them both. Some things are just built to.
What the marker says
In 1913, Nellie Wylie Holden (1863-1944) built a home here. Tradition holds that her children helped noted architect Hugo F. Kuehne design the Georgian Revival house. Holden, an Austin philantropist, worked in many civic and charitable organizations. In 1917, she wed prominent Austin Mayor Alexander Penn Wooldridge (1847-1930). In 1943, Nellie sold the house, which features original details, including sidelights, fanlight, paired Doric columns and Flemish bond brickwork. A rear porch built ca. 1930 and a garage apartment and connecting breezeway added in the 1960s are the only major additions. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2003