DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — and it's a story worth pulling over for. Edward Mandell House. Born 1858, died 1938.
Heir to a wealthy Houston businessman. Now, some men inherit money and disappear quietly into comfort. House took that inheritance and aimed it straight at the heart of Texas politics.
In 1885, he moved to Austin. Not by accident — by design. Austin was where the levers were, and House intended to be the one pulling them.
He managed the successful campaigns of four Texas governors. Four. And if that weren't enough to cement his place in Democratic party circles on the state and national levels, well — 1912 took care of any remaining doubt.
That year, House managed Woodrow Wilson's successful bid for the Democratic party's Presidential nomination. The man had a gift for putting the right people in the right rooms at the right moment. And speaking of rooms — House knew how to build them too.
In 1890, he commissioned New York architect Frank Freeman to design a home right here on this site. Freeman answered with something that would've stopped traffic on its own: an innovative shingle style home, raised on a stone foundation with a full basement beneath it. A broad-roofed first floor gallery wrapped around three sides of the structure.
Above that, a second floor with rounded corners and inset balconies. And up higher still, a third floor tucked inside the massive roof itself — pulled together by gabled dormers, turrets, and soaring stone chimneys. Rambling was the word the marker uses, and you get the sense that was a compliment.
House sold the home in 1914, but during the years he lived here, those walls witnessed more than a few important political meetings. You don't manage four governors and a presidential nominee without some serious conversations happening at the dinner table. Here's the part that settles on you like dust after a long drive.
Despite efforts to save it — and people did try — the structure was razed in 1967. All that stonework, those turrets, those soaring chimneys. Gone.
The marker standing here now was placed during the Texas Sesquicentennial, 1836 to 1986. It marks the site. And sometimes, marking the site is all that's left.
What the marker says
Edward Mandell House (1858-1938), heir of a wealthy Houston businessman, moved to Austin in 1885 to be at the center of State Politics, his primary interest. He managed the successful campaigns of four Texas Governors and became an important figure in Democratic party circles on the State and National levels. In 1912 he managed Woodrow Wilson's successful bid for the Democratic party Presidential nomination. New York architect Frank Freeman designed an innovative shingle style home for House on this site in 1890. The rambling structure was raised on a stone foundation and full basement. A broad-roofed first floor gallery wrapped around three sides of the house, above which rested a second floor accented by rounded corners and inset balconies. A third floor existed within in the massive roof structure, typing the house together with gabled dormers, turrets, and soaring stone chimneys. Although House sold the home in 1914, it was the site of many important political meetings during his residence here. Despite efforts to save it, the structure was razed in 1967. TEXAS SESQUICENTENNIAL 1836-1986