DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. We're talkin' about the Sandidge-Walker House up in Tarrant County — and if a house could have two good lives, this one had 'em both. Cattleman George Sandidge, born in 1873, had this place built around 1921.
Now, George would go on to see ninety-two years on this earth — he didn't leave it until 1965 — so he had plenty of time to appreciate what he'd built. But he only kept it four years before selling it to Webb and Gussie Walker. Just four years.
Some houses take longer than that to settle. George apparently had somewhere else to be. Dr.
Walker — born in 1886 — was no stranger to Tarrant County himself. He'd already been appointed city health officer back in 1913 and served in that position for seven years. So by the time he and Gussie moved into this house, the man had a history of showin' up and stayin' a while.
And sure enough, the Walkers held onto the place for decades. Then in 1954, Dr. Walker sold the house to St.
John's Episcopal Church, and it took on its second life — serving as the church's rectory. As for the house itself, it's been quietly making its case in horizontal lines and wide eaves ever since — Prairie School style, they call it, and once you know to look for it, you can't unknow it. A cattleman builds it, a doctor calls it home, a church gives it purpose.
That's not a bad run for one house on the Texas map.
What the marker says
Cattleman George Sandidge (1873-1965) had this house built about 1921 and sold it four years later to Webb and Gussie Walker. Dr. Walker (1886-1962), was appointed city health officer in 1913 and served in that position for seven years. In 1954, Walker sold the house to St. John's Episcopal Church to serve as its rectory. The Sandidge-Walker house features influences of Prairie School style architecture in its horizontal lines and wide eaves.