DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Robinson-Macken House in Travis County. Now settle in, because this one's got architecture, family ties, a house that literally got up and moved, and two men who apparently couldn't stop taking on every job Austin had to offer. The marker's got layers, just like the building itself.
Let's dig in. Built in 1876 for Elizabeth and John Robinson, Sr., this place is what you'd call a two-and-a-half-story farm house done up in the Second Empire style — that's the kind with the dramatic sloping mansard roof — and dressed out with Italianate detailing for good measure. Projecting bay windows with classical touches, fine milled wood elements, dormer windows peering out from that mansard roof like eyes watching the street.
It is, to put it plainly, a house that knows it's a house. Now here's a detail worth savoring. The Robinson-Macken House sits within the original 1839 Austin town plan — the one drawn by a man named Edwin Waller.
That's the grid this city was born on, and this house has been standing on it since 1876. Three blocks to the east, the Bremond family had their own prominent home, and the two houses share stylistic similarities — which makes a certain kind of sense, because three of John and Elizabeth Robinson's children went and married into the Bremond family. Architecture and matrimony moving in the same direction, apparently.
The Bremond house, for what it's worth, is now preserved as the Bremond Block Historic District. Then comes 1902, and the Robinson son — Eugene — purchases the house from the other Robinson heirs, taking sole ownership of the family property. And Eugene, it turns out, had plans.
Between 1909 and 1912, he had the house moved. Not torn down. Not rebuilt.
Moved — fifty feet north of its original site — to make room for another structure. Just slid the whole two-and-a-half-story Second Empire farm house fifty feet up the lot like rearranging furniture. That is a man with conviction and, one imagines, some very capable help.
The house changed hands again in 1928, when Joe and Bridget Macken purchased it. And the Macken family held onto it — held tight — until 1983. Fifty-five years under one family's roof, or rather, one family under that mansard roof.
Now, both John Robinson and Joe Macken were Austin community leaders. The marker puts it plainly: at different times, each of them served as chief of the volunteer fire department and as city alderman. Two men, different eras, same house, same sense of civic duty.
The building seems to have had a way of attracting that kind of person. And the story doesn't stop in 1983. The Presbyterian Children's Home and Service Agency — chartered way back in 1904 in Itasca — purchased this property in 1990 for executive offices.
So a house built for a farm family in 1876, moved fifty feet by a determined son, passed between prominent Austin families, ended up as the offices of an organization that had been quietly doing its work since before the twentieth century even got started. That mansard roof has seen a lot of Austin come and go. And it's still watching.
What the marker says
Built in 1876 for the family of Elizabeth and John Robinson, Sr., this two-and-half-story farm house is fine example of the Second Empire style of architecture coupled with Italianate detailing. Located within the original 1839 Austin town plan draw by Edwin Waller, it is in close proximity to the house built by the locally prominent Bremond family (three blocks east). It shares stylistic similarities with the Bremond house, now preserved as the Bremond Block Historic District. Three of John and Elizabeth Robinson's children married into the Bremond family. The Robinson's son, Eugene, purchased the house from the other Robinson heirs in 1902. Between 1909 and 1912 he had it moved fifty feet north of its original site to make room for another structure. The house was purchased in 1928 by Joe and Bridget Macken, in whose family it remained until 1983. Both John Robinson and Joe Macken were Austin community leaders, serving at different times as chief of the volunteer fire department and city alderman. Prominent features of the l-plan Robinson-Macken house include projecting bay windows with classical detailing, fine milled wood elements, dormer windows, and a mansard roof. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark- 1986 [2nd plaque] Chartered in Itasca in 1904, the Presbyterian Children's Home and Service Agency purchased this property in 1990 for executive offices.