Sangster House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, most folks build a house the usual way. They save up, they scrimp, they wait.

Robert Andrew Sangster had a different story. The man they called Buck. Born in 1878, and by 1902, Buck Sangster had himself a lottery ticket that came up a winner.

And what did he do with part of those proceeds? He didn't put it in a bank. He didn't sit on it.

He built a house. Right there in Grimes County, Texas. Twelve rooms.

Twelve. In 1902. Now you can picture what that looked like to the neighbors.

For the exterior, Buck went with Queen Anne revival style, touched up with classic revival elements, because apparently winning the lottery means you get to have opinions about architecture. And for the inside, he brought in curly red pine woodwork throughout all twelve of those rooms. Curly red pine.

The kind of detail that makes a house feel like it's showing off just a little, and earning every bit of it. The architect behind all that ambition was Ernest Lord, born in 1860, died in 1941. A man who clearly knew what to do when a client came to him with lottery money and big ideas.

The house stood, and it held, and it stayed in the family. In 1929, Buck's brother, W. W.

Sangster, purchased the place, and the Sangster name stayed on it all the way until 1965. Buck himself lived until 1957. So for decades, he got to see what a winning ticket and a good architect could build together.

Some people spend a windfall and have nothing to show for it. Buck Sangster built twelve rooms of curly red pine and Queen Anne revival elegance, and it's still standing there in Grimes County telling the tale.

What the marker says

Built in 1902 by Robert Andrew "Buck" Sangster (1878-1957), with part of the proceeds from a winning lottery ticket. Constructed in the Queen Anne revival style with classic revival elements on the exterior. Curly red pine woodwork decorates the 12-room interior. Ernest Lord (1860-1941) was the architect. The house was purchased in 1929 by Sangster's brother, W. W. Sangster, and it remained in the Sangster family until 1965. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1974