DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it — and it's one worth tellin'. In August of 1934, a man named Edwin Brazelton Snead broke ground on a house in Austin, Travis County. Now, Snead — born in 1904, died in 1982 — was already a well-known figure in Austin construction and development, the kind of man who knew how to look at what the world had and figure out what it could still become.
And in 1934, that skill mattered more than ever. The Great Depression had a grip on this country, and building anything took resourcefulness, ingenuity, and more than a little nerve. Snead had all three.
See, he was holding the demolition contract for the Old Main structure on the University of Texas campus. And when Old Main came down, those light yellow-buff bricks didn't just disappear into a rubble heap. They went right back to work.
Snead used those bricks — and other construction materials from Old Main — in the construction of this very house. What the university left behind, Snead turned into something new. The result was a Tudor Revival-style house marked by steeply-pitched roofs and half-timbering, gables dressed with stucco accents, a high chimney reaching skyward, and dormered second-story windows peering out like eyes that have seen a few things.
The marker calls it a testament to creative vernacular architecture — the kind of building Texans conjured during the leanest years, when waste wasn't an option and imagination wasn't optional. Then, in 1939, the house changed hands. Meta Paterson Rieck — born in 1889, died in 1970 — purchased it.
The Rieck family were prominent ranchers out of Kimble County, and they made this Austin house their home for many years. So what you've got here is a house built from the bones of a university landmark, raised up by a Depression-era builder who refused to let good brick go to waste, and lived in for years by a ranching family who put down roots in it. Old materials, new walls, long lives.
That's the Snead-Rieck House.
What the marker says
In August 1934, Edwin Brazelton Snead (1904-1982), a well-known Austin construction and development figure, built this Tudor Revival-style house. Snead, holding the demolition contract for the Old Main structure on the University of Texas campus, used the light yellow-buff bricks and other construction materials from Old Main in the construction of this house. Marked by steeply-pitched roofs, half-timbering, gables with stucco accents, a high chimney and dormered second story windows, this house is a testament to creative vernacular architecture Texans utilized during the Great Depression. The house was purchased by Meta Paterson Rieck (1889-1970) in 1939. The Rieck family, prominent Kimble County ranchers, lived in the home for many years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2018