DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this corner of downtown Austin — so let's get into it. Now, if you want to talk about a piece of land that has seen some living, some losing, some rolling on logs — yes, I said rolling on logs — and more than a century of Austin ambition stacked one layer on top of another, well, pull up close, because this block has a story. It starts in 1852.
Abner Cook — noted Austin architect, the man who was simultaneously working on the Texas State Capitol, a project that would run from 1852 to 1854 — took on a commission to build a home right here. His client was Dr. Samuel Garner Haynie, a man of some civic standing.
You could say that's an understatement. Haynie had already been elected Mayor of Austin in 1850 and again in 1851, and he would go on to win that office two more times, in 1863 and in 1864. Four terms.
The man clearly had a way with Austin voters. And Cook gave him a house worthy of it. Federal design.
Greek Revival elements woven through. The front façade carried a two-story portico — two fluted Ionic columns right at the center, with outer Doric piers flanking them on either side. This was not a modest dwelling.
This was a statement. Here's where the story takes its first hard turn. Financial difficulties caught up with Dr.
Haynie, and he was forced to sell the house to Cook — the very man who built it — shortly after its completion. Cook, born in 1814, had a long life ahead of him, and he made use of that house. The Cook family moved in by 1860, and they stayed.
They stayed until Cook himself was gone, and then his widow, Eliza — Eliza Logan Cook — sold the property in 1885 to a man named Leander Brown, a former Mayor of Austin himself. Brown moved in. And he stayed a spell.
But by 1889, Brown subdivided the block and sold it off. That's when things get genuinely strange. The Haynie-Cook House — this Federal-style, Ionic-columned, Doric-piered beauty — was rolled.
On logs. Moved to the southern half of the block. I want you to sit with that image for a moment.
A two-story house, portico and all, eased across the ground on logs. And it kept right on being useful. Fannie M.
Andrews operated a shop out of it from 1910 all the way to 1953. Forty-three years of commerce out of a house that had already lived several lives. Meanwhile, over on the northern half of the block, around 1903, a man named Joseph Nalle acquired the property.
His son Ernest built a home there and lived in it until World War I called him away. In that interval, from 1914 until 1920, the house became home to Nelson Philips, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. When 1920 came around, Nalle returned to the home he'd grown up in.
Then 1933. Judge John H. Sharp — Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas — bought the northern property.
Two Supreme Court justices, one after the other, on the same patch of Austin ground. But 1953 is where both threads end at once. By that year, the Haynie-Cook House and the Nalle-Sharp House were both demolished.
Gone. A century of architecture and ambition, cleared away. The Lumbermen's Association stepped in, acquired the property, and brought in the Westgate — a residential-office high-rise designed in 1962.
A new kind of statement for a block that has never once stopped making them. Today, that property remains a focal point of downtown Austin. Four mayors, two Supreme Court justices, one widow's sale, one house rolled on logs, and a high-rise standing where all of it used to be.
That's not just one story — that's about a dozen of them, stacked right on top of each other, right here.
What the marker says
In 1852, noted Austin architect Abner Cook (1814-1884) built a home here for Dr Samuel Garner Haynie (1806-1877), who was elected Mayor of Austin four times (1850, 1851, 1863, and 1864). Cook, who was also working on the 1852-1854 Texas State Capitol around the same time, built the house with a Federal design, containing Greek Revival elements, The front façade featured a two-story portico with a pair of fluted Ionic columns flanked by outer Doric piers. Because of financial difficulties, Haynie was forced to sell the house to Cook shortly after its completion. The Cook family moved into the home by 1860 and lived there until Cook’s widow, Eliza (Logan) sold the property to former Austin Mayor Leander Brown in 1885. Brown occupied the home until he subdivided and sold the block in 1889. The Haynie-Cook House was eventually rolled on logs to the southern half of the block, Fannie M. Andrews operated a shop out of it from 1910 to 1953. The northern half of the block was obtained by Joseph Nalle around 1903; his son, Ernest, built a home on the site and lived there until World War I. Nelson Philips, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, lived in the house from 1914 until 1920, when Nalle returned to the home. In 1933, Judge John H. Sharp, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, bought the property. By 1953 both the Haynie-Cook Home and Nalle-Sharp House were demolished. The Lumbermen’s Association acquired this property for the Westgate, a residential-office high-rise designed in 1962. Today, the property remains a focal point of downtown Austin. (2010)